Titans CEO: Nissan Stadium Will Be Safe
NASHVILLE – Burke Nihill is confident in the plan.
The Tennessee Titans CEO just needs the go-ahead from Nashville city officials to allow fans inside Nissan Stadium to watch the local NFL team play this fall.
Nihill said Tuesday that there is no clarity about when – or if – the team will be allowed to host spectators for any of this season’s eight home games. Already, it has been determined that the Week 2 matchup against Jacksonville (Sept. 20) will take place with no one in the stands. Similarly, the first two road games, Monday at Denver and Sept. 27 at Minnesota will be played in empty venues.
“We believe that the Titans gameday experience that we have put forth in our ‘safe stadium’ plan is first-class,” Nihill said. “And it would allow us to safely host fans, if we were to be given the opportunity.
“I genuinely believe that going to a Titans game this fall may be one of the safest things that could happen. … There are just many more things that the mayor needs to be considering and the health department needs to be considering when greenlighting thousands of fans traveling – in many cases from other regions – to come to one of our games.”
The thrust of the plan involves what Nilhill called a “restaurant-table, pod-based approach” in which groups of one-six spectators – all with facemasks – sit together, socially distanced from other pods. Statistical modeling determines the best way to distribute each small group of fans throughout the venue and ultimately would allow for a little more than 15,000 fans to attend a game.
It was created through regular meetings that began more than four months ago and included, according to Nihill, input from “national and international health experts.”
“But we’re trying to be creative and we have other configurations that would even be less than that that would still be worth the while of our opening and getting some fans in the door to enjoy a Titans game,” he added.
The Titans schedule includes three consecutive home games beginning Oct. 4 against Pittsburgh. According to Nihill, Titans officials would need to know within the next seven-10 days whether that one will be open to fans in order to complete the necessary operational functions of distributing tickets and other things.
There are also two home games in the first half of November and two more in December, the last of which is set for the weekend prior to Christmas.
“We remain hopeful and ready to host fans, if we are to get that opportunity,” Nilhill said. “That’s really a question for the mayor’s office and we respect the mayor’s decision and trust the mayor’s decision.
“… We’re actively engaged. We’re having conversations. I do think there’s reason for hope for October, but [it is] very preliminary to be thinking about whether or not we’ll ultimately get that green light.”
