Any questions about Nashville being a great football town were stilled recently when Vanderbilt beat number one ranked Alabama, then fans celebrated by carrying the goal post from the stadium down Broadway and anointing it in the Cumberland River. This is only one reason that the Nashville MSA was ranked in the top 15 Best Metro Areas for Football in 2024 by Lawn Love.
Lawn Love compared the 203 largest United States metro areas in four categories: Infrastructure, fan experience, economic and institutional impact, and climate. They looked at things like the number of NFL, UFL and NCAA Division I teams, number of stadiums and arenas in the area, stadium capacities, social media followers, rec centers, sports pubs, ticket prices, weather and eleven other metrics.
Sources used to attain the information used to calculate these results were StadiumDB.com, Stadium Connection.com, The Sporting News, On3, High School Football America, National Football League, Bloomberg Law, YELP, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Pro Football Hall of Fame, Fox Sports, Statista, Pro Football Reference, and National Centers for Environmental Information.
“Whether you’re cheering under the Friday night lights or gathering around the TV for Sunday’s big game, football isn’t just a sport,” says the Lawn Love report, “it‘s a way of life for many Americans.”
For others it is a new experience partially caused by the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance that is bringing new interest in the sport. Millions of new viewers are tuning into games, and driving increased sales of merchandise.
The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA ranked number 12 on the scale ranking a weighted average of 27.38, with a seven for infrastructure, a 21 for fan experience, an 86 for economic and institutional impact, and 158 for climate. Number one on the list is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX.
Besides being the home of the Tennessee Titans, there are four NCAA division one teams, and more than 75 high school teams located in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA.
Football is a community cultural activity, especially in Southern communities. Here it is more than a pastime, it is a way of life that brings together friends and families to everything from pre-game tailgate parties to post game celebrations – like the goal post removal and anointing after the Vanderbilt game.
Tailgating has long been a part of the Southern football experience, and it has become a larger and larger part of the sports experience throughout the country, drawing people together.
A good team can help create community pride, bring accolades to colleges and universities as well as the cities and towns where they are located, and a sense of identity. High school football games can serve as a focal point for cookouts, pep rallies, and other community events.
It can also have an economic impact on a community, drawing fans to restaurants, retail shops, bars, and even overnight accommodations.
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