Using a stadium project as a developmental catalyst for a destination district is an ambitious undertaking but not exactly a novel one.

Fifteen new NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL stadiums, ballparks and arenas have opened in the last decade, each with their own promises about revitalizing and propelling local growth. Now Nashville's state-of-the-art, $2.1 billion new Nissan Stadium, soon-to-be home of the Tennessee Titans, is set to open in 2027 as the centerpiece of what will be the East Bank neighborhood, reimagining hundreds of acres of industrial land as the city's new hub for sports, entertainment, commerce, green space and residential housing.

At least, that's the plan.

There are plenty of factors that make Nashville's proposal unique but just as many that conform to the trends regarding stadium and neighborhood development.

Based on this modern history, the question facing Nashville is twofold: How well do projects like these tend to work out, and — given what's happened elsewhere — what should Nashvillians expect from the forthcoming East Bank neighborhood?

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Viva Las Vegas: Lessons from Allegiant Stadium district

Despite its location less than a mile from the southernmost casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, the land where Allegiant Stadium — home of the Las Vegas Raiders — was built historically lacked the city's flair for bright lights and showmanship.

"I was familiar with that area. I used to ride my bike past it," says Andrew Woods, director for the center of business and economic research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. "Thinking back, I was taking my life in my own hands at that point. It was a lot of lower-end motels. Kind of more gas stations and rent by the day, week or month apartments. Certainly an area with not a lot of economic opportunity. You certainly didn’t see visitors from the strip walking that direction."

Formerly an industrial district, too, Las Vegas' stadium district has transformed into a tourism hotbed. Allegiant Stadium reported $2.3 billion in revenue for 2023, making it one of the five best-earning stadiums in the world. This includes $128 million in tax revenue generated from more than 1.5 million visitors. None of this is counting the Super Bowl hosted in Las Vegas in 2024, which brought an estimated 500,000 visitors to the city.

Employment increased 96% in the half-mile radius around Allegiant Stadium between 2016 and 2023. Average annual wages increased 12%. The total wages earned in that area increased by a whopping 120% from just below $42 million to more than $92 million.

But of course, there are caveats: As Woods points out, a significant percentage of the jobs created by new stadiums are part-time for events, of which there were fewer than 50 in 2023. His department's research shows the number of individual businesses in the district is actually down 16% since 2016, with massive chains like Hilton and Starbucks swooping into the area rather than local businesses. With Las Vegas experiencing a post-pandemic boom, the average annual wage growth is actually 10% lower in the stadium district than it is in the county as a whole.

And, of course, the old standard: Economists agree there's no evidence to support the idea that revenue created by new sports stadiums significantly offsets the public funding to build them (taxpayers spent $750 million to build Allegiant) or that it would not have been possible to generate similar revenue by investing in building and revitalization projects other than a stadium.

Las Vegas is a unique example here. The city didn't have an NFL team before the Raiders, and one in four dollars in the Las Vegas economy comes from leisure and hospitality. By comparison, roughly 8-10% of Nashville's GDP comes from tourism and hospitality, and just 14% of jobs compared to Las Vegas' one-third.

But from the singular perspective of building a stadium to attract visitors who spend money in Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium is fulfilling its purpose.

"I think for when we have big events in town, there's no better place to be," Woods says. "You’re close to action, to the Las Vegas Strip. You can walk across the bridge and go to a game or a concert. Now they’ve got a little bit of a before- and after-party, but you can also go back to the Las Vegas Strip and see the things the Las Vegas Strip provides. It’s an area that’s certainly very different than where it was eight years ago."

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SoFi, so good? Lessons from Inglewood's NFL stadium

For all its many comparisons to the East Bank project, Las Vegas' stadium district falls short in one major comparison point: It's not residential.

The East Bank plans include assurances of 1,550 housing units, including 695 that will be income-restricted for 99 years. More than a haven for tourists, the East Bank will be a place for Nashvillians to call home.

"Our goal is to put a neighborhood around (the new stadium) that's a genuine, actual neighborhood and not just an extended party zone," Metro Nashville Chief Development Officer Bob Mendes said in February.

"The idea of taking 100 acres of asphalt and transforming it into something that ends up being Nashville’s version of Central Park and catalyzes the riverfront in ways that it’s never been catalyzed and starts to provide inspiration for transportation around the city, it ends up making a statement about the values of the city by taking city-owned property and for 99 years locking in affordable housing," adds Titans CEO Burke Nihill. "Yes, Nashville’s going to feel the difference. But I think in a really, really positive way."

Neil deMause, who co-authored the book Field of Schemes and maintains a blog of the same name that casts "a critical eye" on public subsidies directed toward professional sports facilities, laments how conversations around new stadium projects have shifted in recent years. Seemingly in response to the public catching on to the economic consensus regarding these projects, deMause says he's noticed sales pitches turning to a focus on community improvements rather than just stadiums.

Which brings the conversation to Inglewood, California.

SoFi Stadium opened in Inglewood in 2020 as the new home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. It was the culmination of a yearslong ordeal to revitalize Inglewood, known as the "City of Champions," and more specifically to develop the area where the dilapidated Hollywood Park racetrack sat. Rams owner Stan Kroenke privately funded the stadium, so the taxpayer burden on Inglewood is nonexistent. But that doesn't mean the Hollywood Park revitalization project came without drawbacks.

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As long ago as 2009, Inglewood began devoting redevelopment funds to build affordable housing projects on the Hollywood Park tract. As recently as 2014, Inglewood's development plans included building between 1,975 and 3,500 housing units in Hollywood Park. This was before the land was marked for use by the NFL, though.

"I do know that when the announcement first came about for Hollywood Park for Tomorrow before the stadium, (affordable housing) was there," says Derek Steele, Inglewood resident and executive director of the Inglewood-based Social Justice Learning Institute. "Maybe six months into there was a shift. I don’t know why or how or what the rationale was. Sometimes when you’re trying to pencil out a deal, it happens. I don’t want to say it was mischievous in nature. I just know it was there and then it wasn’t."

As of a year ago, there were only 313 housing units in Hollywood Park. Elsewhere in Inglewood, a city that spans just nine miles, rent prices skyrocketed and private ownership of homes increased 35%. Steele says he doesn't personally know anyone who lives within Hollywood Park.

Four years after SoFi opened, Steele still can't define Hollywood Park's identity as a neighborhood, or how it fits into Inglewood's ecosystem.

"I could speak to the impacts of the other communities, the ripple effect of the splashing down. But where the city is in the definition of what this community is and what it looks like? Is it being woven into the fabric of the rest of the city?" Steele asks. "No. I can honestly say no. Not yet, at least."

As with Las Vegas, though, it's important to point out the caveats in Inglewood. In 2011, the city's municipal bonds were graded just one rung above junk status. Now the city has an AA credit rating, one shy of the highest mark. The NFL Network moved its headquarters to Hollywood Park, the Showtime network invested in land in the city and in August the 18,000-seat Intuit Dome will open as the home of the NBA's L.A. Clippers, adding even more event space to a city that already has SoFi Stadium and the 6,000-seat YouTube Theater. New metro lines opened in 2022, making the city more navigable and connecting it to the rest of Los Angeles.

Inglewood is booming, a glimmering example of how becoming a destination city can be transformative. The residents who've long called the area home are struggling to adjust.

"The only thing that’s changed in Inglewood is everything," Steele said.

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Nashville, the East Bank and the future

But again, Inglewood isn't a perfect comparison to Nashville. The East Bank is currently uninhabited, unlike Inglewood. And the Titans aren't new tenants like the Rams and Chargers were, so Titans-related revenue isn't new for Nashville. Nor is the opportunity to host stadium-sized events, though an upgraded stadium will make it easier to host more and bigger events.

It's hard to find a direct comparison for this project. There are shades of The Battery, home of MLB's Atlanta Braves. There are shades of Atlantic Yards and the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. The waterfront aspect of the project brings to mind Oracle Park and MLB's San Francisco Giants. Nihill brings up everything from Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood to the Augusta National golf course as inspirations for the project.

The successes and shortcomings of these projects highlight how difficult it is to project what the East Bank will become, and how much Nashville will benefit.

The Battery turned previously undeveloped suburban land into a leisure destination that's attracted corporations like Papa Johns, Comcast and Thyssenkrupp. But the keyword there is suburban. More than 3,000 apartments have been built on Atlantic Yards, 1,374 of which are guaranteed affordable housing. But the plan was to build 6,430 units with 2,250 guaranteed affordable, meaning 20 years after planning began the project is barely halfway done. Oracle Park is often considered the gold standard for using industrial land to marry a stadium with a neighborhood's identity. But that project was privately funded, a significant difference from the $1.26 billion Nashville and the state of Tennessee are shouldering for the new Nissan Stadium.

Nihill offers an unexpected comparison point: New York City's Central Park. Central Park's history isn't exactly pretty. Building the nation's most famous urban green space involved seizing privately owned land and razing existing neighborhoods, displacing hundreds.

But Nashville doesn't have to displace anyone to use the same kind of planning foresight and achieve similar results.

"I think 15 years from now people will be walking around this riverfront maybe not appreciating how this came to be," Nihill says. "But they will love this city so much more because of the elements of not just what should be built here but how will people use it and how will this come to define Nashville 50 years from now."

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What Nashville, Tennessee Titans can learn from other new NFL stadiums