The Music City Center Coalition




	About Us Behind-the-scenes tour of the current facility (video) Funding Mechanisms Completed Speaking Engagements Campaign Facts The cost of doing nothing What others are saying FAQ The Situation Nashville is among America’s 30 largest cities, yet its downtown convention center is not even among the nation’s 100 largest. Nashville is a top destination for tourists in general, yet many conventions can’t come here because our existing downtown convention center is too small. The economic impact of the existing convention center has reached a plateau as more and more groups turn to other cities with larger facilities. Click here to watch a behind-the-scenes tour of the current Nashville Convention Center, led by NCC executive director Charles Starks. The Solution Downtown Nashville is a bustling center of activity for visitors and locals as a new state-of-the-art convention center becomes a national magnet for America’s most coveted travelers – national convention attendees. The 1.2-million-square-foot facility will include 375,000 square feet of exhibit space – three times that of the current facility. The Music City Center, known for its functionality and imaginative design, will be accented by a luxury hotel built by private investors. The center will be a part of a neighborhood made up of the city’s business core, a growing number of downtown dwellers and attractions like three nearby professional sports venues, the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum and the Ryman Auditorium. Combined with fine hotels and downtown eateries, The Music City Center makes the nearby entertainment districts of Broadway and Second Avenue an irresistible draw for conventioneers. With them comes plenty of new revenue for Nashville businesses, government and schools, with about $700 million in new annual spending being spawned by the new center and its 1 million visitors. The Music City Center Coalition A growing number of business and civic organizations and individuals in Nashville are joining the citizens group actively leading the discussion about the need for a new downtown convention center. Called the Music City Center Coalition, the 501(c)(4) group is dedicated to seeing the Music City Center dream become a reality. Those involved share the vision of Nashville being able to showcase itself as a preferred destination city for visitors who represent a significant revenue stream to Nashville businesses, government and schools. The Music City Center Campaign Following the release of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s convention center feasibility study, Mayor Bill Purcell formed a task force of more than 50 community volunteers to develop recommendations for future convention center plans. That task force, called the Music City Center Committee, presented its report to the mayor in February 2006, which identified what a new convention center would need, where it should be located, how much it would cost and how it could be funded. To read the full report of the Committee’s research and recommendations, click here. Since the report was published, the Committee has continued its work as the Music City Center Coalition, educating the public on the benefits of a new convention center and building support across the city. The Coalition established a speaker’s bureau in an effort to reach out to local business and civic organizations, and is actively campaigning for a new downtown convention center in Nashville.