On May 19th, one of the biggest announcements ever for Nashville happened. It was the day that NFL officially granted the Super Bowl to America’s Music City. Some might say it was the biggest announcement ever and I wouldn’t argue with that either. The very next day on May 20th, the Governor of Tennessee, the Mayor of Nashville and other dignitaries stood on a stage and talked about the impact the big game will have on the city.
Absent from the stage was former Mayor and Governor Phil Bredesen, who was so vital in getting the Houston Oilers to move from Texas to Nashville. He also got the Nashville Predators to town because he was a strong advocate for business and one thing Nashville needed was a big arena and under his watch, the city got an NFL and NHL team. I don’t know why he wasn’t there but he was mentioned a lot about his vision and tenacity in obtaining said achievements.
No one though mentioned a former Mayor of Nashville who planted a vision in our heads in the mid 80’s and was laughed at. Richard Fulton was the Mayor from 1975 to 1987. I always thought he did a great job of keeping Nashville going when everyone was infatuated with Atlanta at the time. Nashville was second fiddle to Atlanta back then and rightfully so because they had the sports infrastructure that Nashville did not have.
Mayor Fulton said in an interview in the mid-80’s that Nashville should make a bid for the Olympics. Excuse me? Yes, what about the Olympics coming to Nashville? It was met with laughter and a bunch of, “Oh, he has lost his mind.” For those of us still in high school at that time, we all said the same thing, why not make a bid for them? It would take probably twelve years to get here, which would have been the 1996 Games, or maybe the 2000 ones.
Do you remember who got the ’96 Olympics? That is right, Atlanta. Yes, Nashville did not get the games but what Mayor Fulton did was make us feel as if we could compete on that scale if we put that infrastructure in. Mayor Bredesen understood that and a new arena and a NFL stadium were delivered and the rest, they say, is history.
The Super Bowl coming to Nashville is an amazing feeling that the biggest game in the world will be in our backyard. If this means anything, it means this. If you dream, dream BIG!
