Jim Nantz / Intro

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Hello, friends, and good morning. What a glorious day this is for our state and all Nashvilleans. Let's hear it. It's a massively important day in the history of our great city. Yeah, I was anxious to get this thing started as we begin the countdown to February of 2030. It's almost impossible to quantify just how big this moment is and what happened yesterday to have the NFL vote us in and welcome Nashville as one of the rare cities in America to ever host the big game.

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It is Saturday, May 23rd, and this is the Nashville Sports Report.

Nashville Super Bowl

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Alright, thanks for tuning in. That clip you heard there at the beginning was Jim Nance, who apparently lives in Nashville. Did not know that. Speaking at the announcement about Nashville being awarded the 2030 Super Bowl. That is Super Bowl 64 or Super Bowl 64 and Roman numerals for all you fancy schmancy people. It's a pretty exciting announcement. Obviously, Nashville has a shot to really impress like they did with the draft back in the day. That was a big event for Nashville and I think for the NFL. And I believe everyone involved is probably hoping that the Super Bowl will be the same way. Odds are if Nashville performs well this time, get put in on the rotation of the frequent Super Bowl cities like Las Vegas, LA, New Orleans. Wouldn't be a bad thing to have. My real question after hearing this announcement is more about how much the rest of the East Bank area is going to be developed or finished by then. It seems as though while the stadium is on track, there's going to be a lot of stuff that's meant to be built around it. I know they've announced East Point, a new neighborhood that's supposed to be right next to the stadium, and is going to be having a groundbreaking at the end of this month. It's supposed to have a hotel and some low-income housing in addition to, I believe, shopping and really pedestrianized area. That should be moving along or at least close to finish by the time the Super Bowl happens. And then, of course, once the new Nissan Stadium is built, demolition on the current Nissan Stadium will begin pretty much right at the same time, February 2027, next year. And, you know, unlike other old stadiums that have been imploded, because old Nissan Stadium is, I think, like 90 yards or something away from new Nissan Stadium, they're actually going to tear it down in part. So it will be a slower demolition process. Once they're done with that, though, they will turn that area, I believe, into a park, at least for the time being. Still, my question is how much around the stadium and how much of that area is actually going to be fully developed and what will the city look like when they're showing it on Super Bowl intro shots. I will probably do a longer, more in-depth coverage of the stadium and sort of the plans around it sometime in the dog days of summer. But with that new announcement, which is very exciting, I am left to wonder about that.

Titans OTAS

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Alright, moving into Titans OTAs. Very exciting videos coming out this week. Cam Ward throwing the ball to Carnell Tate. I hate to keep harping on it, but those of you who have been Nashville sports fans and Titans fans in particular know the long, long, long struggle that we have had to find a true number one wide receiver. Word out of OTAs, and of course, it's just the first few days, no pads, nothing like that, but word is that Tate at least looks much the part, which is a very exciting thing to hear. I'll find some videos from the Titans and link them in the description so you can see some of the stuff they're putting out there. Other news, Cam Ward spoke to the media on Thursday. He looked noticeably slimmer, and when asked by Paul Koherski, I believe it was, he said he'd lost about 10 pounds, just trying to be in better shape and make sure he doesn't get injured like he did at the end of last year with the shoulder. Speaking of which, Robert Sala, also speaking on Thursday, said that Ward's shoulder is, quote, perfectly healthy, end quote. So that's an exciting development as they begin to install Brian Daval's offense and of course build camaraderie between Tate Ward and Wandell Robinson, who's new to the team. Will Levis is also said to be looking pretty good and back from his shoulder injury, which is personally, in my opinion, great news. I think you never can have too many good quarterbacks or, you know, salvageable quarterbacks, serviceable quarterbacks on your roster. And you know, at the very least, Levis can make himself a more appealing trade target for somebody towards the end of camp in August. OTAs will continue for the Titans this week on the 26th, 27th, and 29th. They will then have a few days in early June before mandatory minicamp in the middle of the month, and then going silent for the break in the summer that happens every year in the NFL schedule. Although I'm sure the people NFL headquarters are devising a way as we speak to put some sort of event or something on the calendar sooner rather than later.

Nashville SC

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Anyways, moving on, Nashville SC had a great week defeating LAFC 3-2 on Sunday night behind a Handy Mukhtar hat trick. These were goals 99, 100, and 101 for Mukhtar, who's rapidly pushing himself into the Nashville Sports Legend conversation. Feels like there will one day be a saluting statue out front of Geodis. The first goal was, I think, really beautiful team goal, play up the right side, a number of combined passes, finishing with a give and go between Hani Mukhtar and Warren Madrigal, who made a nifty little cut around his defender to kick the ball into Hani. Goals number two and three, or 100 and 101, depending on how you're counting, were both beautiful curling set piece goals, free kicks from outside of the box where Hani put it over the wall and out of the reach of the goalkeeper. I would say that both of those goals are going to be included on Hani Mukhtar highlights for probably the rest of his career and or life, which is a pretty amazing thing to see. Uh two goals of that nature in one game. All in all, it was just a master per performance from Hani. Nashville SC's media team released a all-angles video of the goals that I just thought was excellent and a bunch of different views of each goal. Uh I'll link that video in the description as well. This was a massive win for Nashville SC. They truly marked themselves as one of the elite teams in the MLS this season heading into this break. If you're at all interested in in going to watch them after the World Cup, I would go out and get some tickets now because there's going to be a much higher demand, presumably after the World Cup ends in about six weeks. The win also put N NSC at number one in the Sporter Shields standings, which for those who don't know means the best record in the league, headed into their final match against NYCFC. NYCFC started the season strong, had a four-game win streak, but have been sort of up and down since then. They've also been very, very injured, probably more injured than even Nashville SC has this year. Most recently, club legend Maxi Morales tore his left ACL and had surgery, I believe, successfully for it the other day, but he he's going to be out long term. Nashville SC also had actually a a bit of better bad injury luck. Better bad injury luck. Yeah, why not? With news that Sam Serge has returned to the training ground this week. Hopefully Sam can get in for at least 20 or so minutes off the bench tonight against NYCFC. That match is at 7.30 on Apple TV, I believe. Also, during that match, keep an eye out for number 88 from NYCFC. That's Malachi Jones. He's a Middle Tennessee native, grew up in Thompson Station and played collegiately at Lipscomb. He was injured a couple years ago, broke his leg that put him out for a fairly long amount of time, but he has been working his way back and getting some minutes somewhat recently for NYCFC, who in the middle of this week lost to the Columbus crew in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals.

More Good News for Vandy

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Alright, moving on, keep harping on it, but Vanderbilt's great year continues to happen. Candace Story Lee, Vanderbilt's Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director, was named Sports Business Journal's 2026 Athletic Director of the Year this week. A big award there for her for a job really well done. Also, the men's golf team won the Athens Regional, which is their fourth NCAA regional, and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the 12th straight season. If you're interested, you can watch it on the Golf Channel and Peacock.

Nashville Sounds

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The Nashville Sounds are currently 29 and 20. This week they've been on the road in Durham, where so far they've taken three out of four against the Bulls. They played two more today and tomorrow against Durham before heading back home. And on Tuesday, they will open a six-game series against the Gwinnett Stripers, that's a triple A affiliate for the Atlanta Braves, assuming that the ring cooperates.

Outro

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Okay, well, that is our show. We uh really want to hear from you. Thank you so much for listening. There's a link down at the bottom of the description that will correct connect you directly to us. Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or better yet, have you on the show. We can also be found on Blue Sky and Twitter as at NSH Sports Report and on YouTube as at Nashville Sports Report. Hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for listening.