How did Nashville get Super Bowl in 2030? Inside the decades-long momentum

Nashville will host a Super Bowl for the first time in 2030, a milestone that would have seemed far-fetched not long ago for a city once considered too small for the NFL's biggest stage. The May 19 announcement from the league meetings in Orlando that  NFL owners voted  to approve the  Super Bowl LXIV  in Nashville, teeing up Music City as the 17th destination for the massive event, capped a years-long push to create a global destination. Nashville's tourism executives toiled for years to build the type of city that could host a Super Bowl , focusing on brand building, strategic event hosting and infrastructure investment.

They attracted the NFL Draft in 2019, lobbied for a new football stadium and expanded direct international flight options , while building up the Music City brand. Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. President and CEO Deana Ivey pointed out it has only been 31 years since former Mayor Phil Bredesen decided to bring the Houston Oilers, later renamed the Tennessee Titans , to Nashville.

"If you think back to Mayor Bredesen, and the vision of bringing an NFL team, and building a stadium, and where we are today, it's pretty amazing," Ivey said. / Nashville submitted a letter of interest to the NFL last year to hold the event and was viewed as a favorite to win it sooner or later. With a new Tennessee Titans stadium due in 2027, a year-round tourism economy and growing track record of successful events under its belt, many people thought the city was a shoe-in.

Since Nashville's first NFL stadium was completed in 1999, the city has completely transformed. Here's a look at the key moments that led up to Nashville's new status as a Super Bowl city. Music City brand solidified more than 20 years ago Back in 2004, Nashville needed a nickname.