Eight mammoth crawler cranes loom over a sprawling construction site on the east bank of the Cumberland River across from downtown Nashville, Tenn., their jib and booms extending into the blue sky.
The site – home to a new, $2.2-billion Nissan Stadium being built for the NFL Tennessee Titans – is bustling with activity. A small army of workers is employed on the 2.1-million-square-foot venue.
On the ground floor, forklifts are being used to move large steel beams. On one of the upper floors, a carry-deck crane is being used to hoist materials into position. Nearby, sparks fly from a welder’s torch. And on the top deck, workers are ferrying large boxes on skids into position.
Roughly 1,100 workers are on the project site daily round the clock. So far, they’ve logged more than 1.75 million hours.
In June, the steel roof superstructure was raised over the west end of the stadium, providing a glimpse of the future silhouette of the building.
With about a third of the steel installation complete, the team is pushing full steam ahead to prepare for the next big milestone: the ring beam installation for the roof. About 25,000 steel pieces will have to be hoisted into place to build the roof.
Interestingly, the roof will be a non-retractable, 350,000-square-foot, cable-net ethylene tetrafluoroethylene structure. It has been designed to allow sunlight to filter through translucent, lightweight panels.
Steel for the stadium is being fabricated at an off-site location to keep the project moving at a faster pace.
On the terrace level, concrete for a slab has been poured for a large outdoor gathering space and precast stairs are going in. The seating bowl is also coming to life on all three levels, with roughly one quarter of the seats installed.
Inside, many of the walls have been raised on multiple levels. They are made of precast concrete masonry units and metal studs. Nearly half of the planned 510,000 square feet in masonry work has been completed and most of the 44 elevators have been installed.
Work on the stadium began in spring 2024. The site had to be sloped, and crews excavated 400,000 cubic yards of dirt. Piers were drilled into the ground to support the structure.
Behind the scenes, work on power, HVAC and plumbing is ramping up.
Nearly 100,000 linear feet of plumbing pipe has been installed. Three massive generators have been connected and ductwork is starting to arrive, including some giant six-foot-wide sections for the seating bowl.
Framing and sheathing on the exterior of the stadium are well underway. Installation of glass and metal panel cladding will begin later this summer.
The stadium is being built with high-tech, sustainable materials and is designed to minimize waste and preserve energy and water. It is on track for LEED Gold certification and 90 per cent of the construction waste is being recycled.
Rainwater from the roof will be collected in 400,000 gallons of cistern collection tanks that will be reused for HVAC, toilet flushing and irrigation.
Once completed, the stadium will be entirely enclosed and climate controlled. A ribbon-style LED display, 13-feet-high-by-2,275-feet-wide, dubbed the Ring of Fire, will be fitted inside of the stadium.
“When it comes to building something new and never-been-done-before, including this Ring of Fire display, that’s where our team of engineers come alive to deliver for our customers,” explained Jay Parker, Daktronics vice-president of live events.
The new venue is just east of the football team’s current stadium. It will have a seating capacity of 60,000 – slightly less than the current stadium. However, the seats will have better views than the old venue. In addition to regular seats, there will be luxury suites that seat up to 22 people and have access to an all-inclusive private lounge. Studio boxes will have four-to-eight-seat options.
The new stadium will feature fully frictionless concessions – which will cut down on wait times – and nearly twice the number of restrooms which the Titans say will get fans back to their seats quicker.
Completion of the stadium is set for February 2027.
The old stadium will be demolished once the new one is operational. The current stadium is aging and near the end of its usable life. The prefabricated concrete frame is not suitable for renovation.
About $1.26 billion of the cost of the structure is subsidized by the public. It is the largest stadium subsidy in U.S. history.
The venue was designed by Manica Architecture. TVS is the architect of record. Manica previously designed Allegiant Stadium, a domed venue southwest of Las Vegas that is home field of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders, NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, home to the Houston Texans, and Wembley Stadium in London, U.K., which opened in 2007 and replaced the original stadium of the same name.
The project is being built by the Tennessee Builders Alliance joint venture of Turner Construction Co., AECOM Hunt, I.C.F. Builders and Polk & Associates Construction Inc.
In addition to the Titans, the stadium will host Tennessee State University football games and community activities.
