Nashville Proves It’s a Powerhouse FCS Championship Host

Last week's FCS National Championship was an all-time classic between Illinois State and Montana State. It was the first time the game had gone to overtime, and the first time the Natty was played in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the 12th city overall and the second time in the state of Tennessee.

It seemed like Nashville was going to be a slam dunk of a host city, but I wanted to get the inside scoop from someone who was there with boots on the ground. We brought MTN News' Kyle Hansen onto The Daily Drive with Ace Sauerwein to talk about the Nashville experience.

"Yay for sure," Hansen said after I asked him, "Nashville: yay or nay?"

"You go into any bar, any restaurant, there is a live band. It's kind of funny, too, because [the acts] are all really good."

Downtown Nashville skyline. Credit: Tanner Boriack (Unsplash)

Nashville is a great time to visit because of the live music and the Broadway scene, but how would it be as a football city?

Hansen said it felt like an event, which is something the FCS National Championship has to do. It's a tier below the College Football Playoff, the Super Bowl, or any other major sporting event, so you have to make it feel like an important sports event.

"I do like Frisco. If [the National Championship] went back there, I wouldn't be sad, but I do think Nashville's vibe... What they did with the FCS National Championship is what you have to do. You have to make it special, and you have to make it stand out."

"Hey, come to Nashville for 4 days. We have live music, we have Broadway, we have all these fan and college events going on around it, and we're all immediately close to where the game is being played. I just think you have to make it an event, and I thought Nashville was 10/10 across the board on everything they did."

The game was played at Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium, which is roughly a mile from Broadway.

I asked Hansen if he was the FCS commissioner where he would put the National Championship game. Nashville is in the running, but he also pitched Vegas for that big-time-event-feel.

Hey, I would take Nashville, Vegas, Frisco, Tulsa, or any other place as long as the Griz are there.

Bottom line, however, was that Nashville was a smashing success according to Hansen.