The Titans announced a significant addition to their front office on Wednesday.
They have hired Dave Gardi as their executive vice president of football operations. Gardi spent the last two seasons as the senior vice president of football initiatives for the Commanders and the previous 21 years in the NFL’s league office.
“We’re thrilled to have Dave join us here in Nashville,” General Manager Mike Borgonzi said in a statement. “He’s extremely respected around the NFL and brings a plethora of experience and valuable perspective, molded together by two decades at the league office, in addition to time on the club side of operations. Dave will make an immediate impact here with the Titans and we’re excited to welcome him and his family to Tennessee.”
Gardi’s hire comes after president of football operations Chad Brinker stepped down last month. The Titans’ announcement of the hire says Gardi will report directly to Borgonzi under the new structure at the top of the organization.
Nashville’s new stadium is on track to open for big events next spring, and for the Tennessee Titans to play their home games there in the 2027 season.
Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill said today that progress is continuing on schedule.
“The stadium is still scheduled to be completed some time early next spring, late winter, some time in February, likely. We are targeting probably April or so for first big events,” Nihill said.
It’s a massive job, but it’s getting closer, with the roof being built now and finishing touches put on once the roof has protected the inside from the elements.
“In terms of the construction schedule, you can see every day with 2,000 people on site, it looks a little bit more like a completed stadium,” Nihill said. “That pace will continue. The roof is being assembled right now. Likely some time in September the roof will be sealed tight. Once the roof is sealed tight, we can really get going on design finishes and things that really need to wait until it’s protected from the elements.”
One big event is already on the schedule for New Nissan Stadium: Super Bowl LXIV in 2030.
Nashville is getting a new stadium. It’s also getting a Super Bowl.
As expected, NFL owners voted on Tuesday to make Nashville the host for Super Bowl LXIV, to be played in 2030.
For most new stadiums, a Super Bowl is part of the public-money quid pro quo. Even cold-weather cities are eligible, if the venue has a roof and if the city has the infrastructure (mainly hotel space) to absorb the full experience.
The real question for Nashville will be whether the 2030 experience goes well enough to make it part of the loose rotation of Super Bowl cities. Weather will be a factor.
An ice storm in Atlanta for its second Super Bowl (XXXIV, in early 2000) kept Georgia out of the loop until it was time to reward the region for building a second dome. Nineteen years passed before the Super Bowl returned to Atlanta for a third time. (Atlanta is getting another Super Bowl, nine years after its most recent one.)
Dallas still hasn’t had another Super Bowl since the second year of Jerry World, thanks to a weeklong ice debacle and the fairly significant problem arising from selling more tickets than there were available seats.
The next four Super Bowls are now set: L.A., Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Nashville. Los Angeles and Las Vegas have become obvious regular destinations. Nashville will, in four years, have a chance to join the unofficial rotation.
Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons has seen a lot of players come and go since joining the team in 2019 and one of this offseason’s departures hit him with particularly strong force.
Defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat was traded to the Jets in exchange for edge rusher Jermaine Johnson. Simmons said during an appearance on CBS Sports’ Offseason Playbook that he was caught off guard when Sweat called him with the news in March because he had taken on a mentorship role for a younger player he believed was headed for bigger things.
Simmons went on to call General Manager Mike Borgonzi for more of a download on why the team decided to go in that direction.
“It was a surprise to me,” Simmons said. “Just trying to get a feel for why. I feel like Sweat — he’s got some potential that sometimes he doesn’t understand. For me, that’s the reason why I’m like Sweat, you’re coming down to Dallas with me this offseason. I wanted to pull that out of him to be able to be like ‘I have so much potential. I can be the best nose tackle in the game of football.’ And he has the potential to do that. I hate it, but it’s a business.”
Sweat was a 2024 second-round pick in Tennessee, which meant he joined the team before Borgonzi and head coach Robert Saleh were in the organization. They determined Johnson was a better fit for where they want to go and a win-win trade would be a plus for a pair of AFC teams that haven’t been consistent winners in a long time.
A new stadium for the Titans is under construction in Nashville and it could soon become the home of Super Bowl LXIV as well.
NFL Media reports that NFL owners are expected to vote on awarding the game to Nashville at this week’s league meeting. The game would be played in 2030 and would be the first Super Bowl held in the city.
The new Nissan Stadium is expected to open in time for the 2027 season, which would give everyone several years to settle into the new digs before the Super Bowl would come to the city.
If Nashville is approved as the host for 2030, the league will have the next four Super Bowl cities lined up. The 2027 game will be in Los Angeles with Atlanta and Las Vegas on deck for 2028 and 2029.
