Nashville Becomes Leader To Host 2019 NFL Draft

Per ESPN.com and other sports news outlets, the city of Nashville apparently has become the frontrunner to host the 2019 NFL Draft.

“A decision is expected to be announced during the league’s spring meeting May 22-23 in Atlanta,” the website’s story revealed.
“In the unlikely event that Nashville was to lose out on the 2019 draft, the city would be in prime position to then host the 2020 event, sources told ESPN.”
The NFL is moving the NFL Draft around in an attempt to bring fans in NFL cities closer to the game. It is also the idea by the league to find cities that offer an entertaining weekend for both fans and media in attendance.
For nine years, the NFL held the Draft at Radio City Music Hall, but that run ended in 2014. Since then, it has been held in Chicago (2015-16), Philadelphia (2017) and Arlington, Texas (2018). The NFL Draft held in AT&T Stadium was the first time the event was on display in an actual NFL stadium.
What this means is the Jacksonville Jaguars were not chosen to host the draft downtown on the river. Mayor Lenny Curry flew to Dallas during the week of the NFL Draft to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. While team owner Shad Khan has no intentions of hosting another Super Bowl in Jacksonville, the organization is interested in the NFL Draft over the three-day event.
Back in February, it was reported by Jay Johnson of Jaguars Wire that Jacksonville was out of the running to play host to such an event for the next two years.
Per the ESPN.com story, Butch Spyridon, the president and CEO of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., told ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe on Wednesday that the city encouraged the NFL to use the Ascend Amphitheater for the draft theater, Nissan Stadium (home of the Tennessee Titans) and its parking lots for the fan experience, and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for the Titans’ war room.
Spyridon suggested that Broadway Street and First Avenue — which is full of honky-tonks and includes nearby Bridgestone Arena — be a big part of the draft weekend as well. He also presented the Music City Center convention hall as a potential option.
Spyridon said the city would prefer to host the NFL Draft in 2020 because of logistics but would be open to showing off the city to the NFL and its fans next offseason.