Nashville Named 8th Best Sports Business City By ‘Sports Business Journal’

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Lowere Broadway during the 2019 NFL Draft. Photo: Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

It’s no secret that Nashville has been one of the hottest cities in America over the last decade between its growth, tourism scene as well as its economic boom. Now The Sports Business Journal has named Music City as the 8th best business city in America.

The SBJ released as list of the 50 Best Sports Business Cities in America where they went through the numbers the numbers over a seven months, analyzing nearly half a million bits of data across 377 markets that are the home of at least one professional or Division I college athletic program, or a permanent event. They created an algorithm that took into account quantitative and qualitative data, as well as interviews and sentiment analysis from nearly 100 industry veterans, according to the article.

Coming in at No. 1 was Dallas which also includes, Fort-Worth, Arlington and Frisco. They continue to have dedicated sports franchises that invest in both their stadiums, fans and cities. The rest of the list follows, New York City, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nashville, Chicago and Phoenix. All these cities are either mainstays with decades of sports history (NYC, LA Chicago) or have seen major growth by adding new teams, new stadiums or hosting world-class sports events (Nashville, Las Vegas, Charlotte).

There were a string of qualifications to make the list which includes “having to be home to multiple tenured franchises, events, modern venues, sponsors, agencies, media partners and other critical vendors, located within reasonable proximity of each other so they can visit and knock out meetings with multiple organizations without overspending on hotel and meals.” These cities have also, “foster a climate of support from their residents, businesses and local governments (22 states now have a fund or grant program designed to lure and/or help pay for recruited events).”

Nashville has grown into a major hockey city, has added an MLS team with a brand new stadium, have hosted the NHL All-Star Game and NFL Draft, host the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament annually and is just a few votes away from building a brand new football stadium for the Titans. All of these factors, including its population growth and local support are major reasons why Music City finds themselves in the top 10.

Steven Boero
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