Legislation to approve a deal to overhaul the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway was filed with the Metro Council Office Friday, but the bill has a lot of roads to cover and hurdles to clear in a few short months if the final vote is going to happen before this council term ends.
Under the deal, Bristol Motor Speedway would lease the fairgrounds track for 30 years and execute a roughly $100 million renovation, including the construction of a new 30,000-seat grandstand, a sound wall, and an "enhanced infield." Renovation and construction costs would be covered by public funding sources: $17 million from the state, $17 million from the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., and the remainder covered by revenue bonds to be issued by the Metro Sports Authority.
Bristol Motor Speedway would be responsible for construction cost overages and any maintenance costs not covered by diverted tax revenues. The company would pay a guaranteed $3.09 million to the Fair Board over the course of the 30-year lease, an annual $1 million in rent (rising 1% each year) and the first $600,000 of sponsorship revenues would be paid to Metro each year (also with a 1% escalator).
The Metro Nashville Fair Board narrowly approved the deal in March, 3-2, but final consideration lies in the hands of the Metro Council.
The lead sponsor of the bill will be Goodlettsville Council member Zach Young, who has been a vocal supporter of the deal.
The bill must pass three Metro Council readings to proceed and will likely be introduced for its first reading on June 6. Because Metro Council is in its annual budget process and cannot consider legislation requiring the issuance of bonds, the bill will be automatically deferred until the city budget is finalized in late June.
This means the bill will be brought back to the council floor for consideration in early July with just four meetings remaining before the current council's time in office concludes. Nashville's local election is on Aug. 3, and the last Metro Council meeting before the newly elected council members take office is scheduled for Aug. 15.
District 13 Council member Russ Bradford said in a tweet Wednesday that bringing the deal to council as the term's end nears is "irresponsible of this administration."
"We spent over a year in the Titans stadium (deal), to think they can ram this through in two months is beyond comprehension," Bradford wrote.
Lawsuits and public funding fatigue
Other factors obscure the path ahead.
Metro Nashville filed a lawsuit against the state Wednesday seeking to strike down a new state statute that would require less council votes for the speedway deal to pass. The proposal could also be impacted by community fatigue for publicly subsidized sports facilities following the council's April approval of a $2.1 billion deal to build a new Tennessee Titans stadium.
The speedway has been a local lightning rod for more than a decade. In 2011, a group seeking to preserve the fairgrounds successfully petitioned for an amendment to the city charter enshrining the fairgrounds' historic uses, including racing on the speedway. At the ballot box, 71% of Nashville voters supported the amendment.
That charter provision states that "no demolition of the premises shall be allowed to occur without approval by ordinance" receiving a supermajority of 27 votes from Nashville's 40-member council. Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly recently cemented a new statute overriding that charter provision, stating instead that only 21 votes are needed to approve the deal so long as any "improvements" to the fairgrounds or speedway will be used for "substantially the same use" as their predecessors.
Metro's lawsuit asks the Davidson County Chancery Court to strike down the new law, claiming it violates the state constitution because it applies only to Metro Nashville and did not receive local voter approval. The judge's decision, and whether or not either party files an appeal, leaves the number of votes necessary for the deal to pass in question.
Talks of a deal first surfaced in 2017. NashvilleMayor John Cooper's administration orchestrated the deal in its current form and signed an agreement in principlein December 2021 withBristol Motor Speedway to renovate the 118-year-old venue.
Cooper announced in January that he would not seek a second term. If the proposed speedway deal legislation is deferred beyond August, a new mayor would be in place by the time the bill sees its final vote.
In the year and a half since Cooper signed the agreement in principle, the deal and its details have been a point of controversy between its supporters, who say it's long past time for racetrack renovations, and its opponents.
Residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the racetrack have consistently raised concerns over disruptive noise (which they do not believe will be sufficiently remediated by the sound wall), increased traffic and the public subsidy involved in the deal. Union-backed advocacy group Stand Up Nashville and the fairgrounds-area Neighborhood Impact Advisory Council have voiced their opposition.
