Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in downtown Nashville during the NFL Draft weekend and the St. Jude’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon will take place in the middle of the party.
Saturday, April 27 will bring an additional 30,000 people to the streets for the marathon.
It’s the 20th year of the Nashville marathon, so organizers were already planning something big. But with the NFL Draft happening at the same time, the experience at Nissan Stadium will be elevated to the next level.
“Everybody is on board to make it just one big festival weekend and we are excited about it,” Keats McGonigal Senior Regional Director for the marathon told News 2.
He says they have known that the NFL Draft could collide with the marathon for years.
“For us the last weekend of April is when historically we’ve run the event. We are going to be here for years to come so for us we wanted to hold onto that.”
The NCVC, the NFL, and marathon organizers are now working together.
“They’ve got an amazing production team, we’ve got a great production team and now everybody is working together to make this happen, so I feel great about where we are at and what we are going to be able to deliver for all of the participants,” said McGonigal.
They still plan to deliver a similar running course, starting on 8th and Broadway.
“All of the runners will still get to experience that truly Broadway vibe of running down past the honky tonks as part of the race.”
They will, however, turn off of Broadway a little earlier than usual based on some security needs for the NFL. The biggest change, however, will be at the finish line.
Runners will still come in off of Woodland to Nissan Stadium, but once they are in the parking lot there will be multiple stages of entertainment.
“It’s going to be some A-list acts that are going to be coming through and it’s going to be a couple of different genres of music,” he said.
The NFL Experience will be providing an opportunity for music, sports and athletes all to convene in one space.
“We want to showcase Nashville, this is our marathon and we want to showcase it the best we can by cheering those people on, delivering a great experience. We see this as a great opportunity to have people come to town for the draft and then enjoy the experience while they are here, run with us,” said McGonigal.
If you are not a runner, they are still asking for people to come down and participate. They are looking for volunteers and spectators to cheer on the runners
The entertainment is free.
Music City will put its stamp on the NFL draft.
The NFL expects around 300,000 people to visit Nashville during the four-day weekend, so businesses are planning to cash in.
The bars, honky-tonks, restaurants, and hotels all expected to rake it in that weekend.
The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp says they are prepared for the crowd to reach 5th Avenue and that there will be large viewing screens all along lower Broadway so everyone can take in the action from the stage that will be on 1st and Broadway.
Acme Feed and Seed will be right smack dab in the middle of the party as the stage will basically be outside of their front door.
The owner says they’ve been working with the NFL for about a year to plan.
“We’ve been preparing ourselves. We are the It city. We need to show people who we are. I hate thinking that we’re becoming a tourist trap. I’d much rather be authentic and real. Our stages will be full of real Nashville musicians. They may play a cover tune, but it’s only because they want to. We still look at ourselves at ACME as a discovery platform and so when people come in from out of town, we want them to discover the real Nashville, Tom Morales explained.
Not only is he expecting ACME to do well, but The Southern Steak and Oyster which Morales also owns. He says reservations are already coming in for that weekend.
The draft will put Nashville front and center, in the spotlight of millions of people.
The city has proved before that we can blend music and sports entertainment in 2017 when we hosted with the Stanley Cup finals and the CMA Music Festival.
This year we have even more bars and restaurants with a number of new bars and hotels, so city leaders say bring on the crowd.
“Nashville’s definitely ready for this. Absolutely. We’re on the world stage now and it’s not just music; it’s sports. There’s talks about professional baseball now so Nashville has to catch up with itself and take a deep breath and realize who we are,” explained Morales.
The crowd could swell to around 100,000 on any given day that weekend according to the NCVC.
Saturday will likely be the biggest as Nashville will have the St. Jude Rock ‘N’ Roll Nashville Marathon & 1/2 Marathon bringing an extra 30,000 people to downtown and then that night Jimmy Buffet fans will pack Bridgestone Arena.
Thursday Acme Feed and Seed will be releasing more exciting news about their involvement with the NFL Draft.
President of Nashville Convention & Vistors Corp Butch Spyridon was in Atlanta this week for Super Bowl festivities and took some time to scope out the setup.
“My cell phone was out taking pictures saying, we can do that. We walked through the fan experience and the Georgia World Congress Center is enormous so their footprint for the fan experience is a little bigger, but we got a good feel for what will take place in Nashville,” said Spyridon.
There were other specifics released on Wednesday. Spyridon said there will be 20 music acts over three days. The names of these different music acts will likely be released sometime in March.
“We want to showcase authentic Nashville talent. There will be at least one major act Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night on the Broadway side. I don’t think people will be disappointed, there will be something for everyone,” added Spyridon.
The Draft in April will be one of the biggest sports events in the history of Tennessee, but Spyridon and the city consider it a dress rehearsal for bigger events in the future. While hosting a Super Bowl is a possibility down the road, the main focus is getting Nashville to become a host site for the next World Cup.
Be sure to stay tuned to News 2 for updates.
ATLANTA (NEXSTAR) — While we’re counting down the days until the Super Bowl this weekend, there’s another NFL event on the horizon: the NFL Draft.
In Nashville for 2019, the draft starts Thursday, April 25 at 9 p.m. and goes through Saturday, April 27.
You’ll need to download the NFL Draft Pass app to get free tickets, and you’ll need a different ticket for each day.
A team from the City of Nashville was set up at Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl LIII. They told our Ashley Bridges all about the city, why you should check it out, and, if you do go, their favorite spots around town.
ATLANTA (NEXSTAR) — While we’re counting down the days until the Super Bowl this weekend, there’s another NFL event on the horizon: the NFL Draft.
In Nashville for 2019, the draft starts Thursday, April 25 at 9 p.m. and goes through Saturday, April 27.
You’ll need to download the NFL Draft Pass app to get free tickets, and you’ll need a different ticket for each day.
A team from the City of Nashville was set up at Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl LIII. They told our Ashley Bridges all about the city, why you should check it out, and, if you do go, their favorite spots around town.
There’s just one difference to the 2018 Male Vocalist of the Year nominees than last year.
Luke Combs is the lone newcomer to the fray and he brings some heavy hitting songs to the group.
Combs became popular on Facebook before he was topping the charts, and his audience followed him to the radio. His first song, “Hurricane,” finished 2017 at No. 3 on the Hot Country chart. His follow-up single, “When it Rains it Pours,” finished the year just outside the top 10.
His third single, which was his third No. 1, aptly named “One Number Away,” could land combs his first CMA award.
The rest of nominees find themselves in familiar territory.
Chris Stapleton, who is looking to win the award for the fourth straight year, is nominated again. His resume speaks for itself, and he’s nominated for four other CMA Awards this year.
That being said, Stapleton’s body of work this award season is a little bit weaker than years past. The guy deserves a break though, right?
Stapleton released volume 2 of his From a Room collection, and it was a big hit. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts. He became the first country artists to release two top 2 albums in the same year since Luke Bryan did it five years ago.
Thomas Rhett will be looking to add to his trophy case with his first Male Vocalist of the Year win.
Rhett released a new album, Life Changes, this year, and four singles off that record went No. 1 on the Country Airplay charts.
He was also named country artist of the year at the 2018 iHeart Country Music Awards, which could be a decent indicator of what could happen in November.
Keith Urban is also nominated this year. He’s won the award three other times before but has not won since 2006.
This year, Urban released Graffiti U, his eleventh studio album. The record ended up at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and No. 2 on the Billboard all genres chart. One of the singles from that album, “Coming Home,” also went to the top of the charts.
Urban supported that album release with a huge world tour. He’s right in the middle of making 72 different stops on the tour including 63 in North America.
Finally, Dierks Bentley is looking for his first Male Vocalist of the Year trophy. Surprisingly, it would only be his fourth CMA Award ever.
Bentley is coming off the release of his album The Mountain. The first single off that record, “Women, Amen” skyrocketed to No. 1 on the Country Airplay charts.
The album itself went to No. 1 also on the Country charts. Bentley has also played more than 25 shows this year to support his album.
No matter who wins the award in November, it’s sure to be a historic one.