Well, the NFL draft was fun. How do we clog up our streets for something new? Answer: The World Cup.
After all, we looked very good after pulling off the draft. It was seen in 115 countries, initial TV ratings for ABC were up 28%, 600,00 people, and rave reviews from everyone here have only put Nashville on people's radar even more.
Butch Spyridon, CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.told Yahoo Finance:
“Probably the next step is talking to FIFA and World Cup. We're a finalist to be a host city [of the 2026 World Cup]. We would like to do that, we think this demonstrates that we can compete with anybody on a global stage.”
Football to futball. It's a natural, right? Or have we hit the limit of what we can take?
Spyridon continued,
“What we’ve done in the past, including Nashville Predator watch parties, helped lead to the NFL having confidence in us,” he said. “It’s always been part of our strategy from when we first started using events to showcase the brand [of the city], drive demand, and generate some PR.”
But do we have the infrastructure for something that big? Cuz it's levels of huge that make the draft look puny.
Spyridon admits,
"I would readily admit we’ve pushed the envelope a little bit with our friends at the NFL. But the end result is the setting is beautiful, the talent is incredible, the three networks and a fly cam going five blocks down Broadway, says that we can do whatever it takes.”