Even after small Music City Bowl crowd, Nashville still bullish on UK fans

From the time it was announced last month that Kentucky would be making its sixth all-time trip to the Music City Bowl to conclude its 2022 football season, the vibe just seemed off.

“I thought this year — I’m trying to think of the right word to say — was certainly different,” said Scott Ramsey, the president and CEO of both the Nashville Sports Council and the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

The flat atmosphere in Nissan Stadium on New Year’s Eve was a far cry from 2006 and 2007 when Kentucky backers were the primary reasons the home field of the Tennessee Titans sold out (crowds in excess of 68,000 both years) for Wildcats games vs. Clemson and Florida State, respectively, in the Music City Bowl.

This season, the circumstances that led to one of the smallest crowds (42,312) to see a Music City Bowl watching a shorthanded Kentucky absorb a 21-0 blanking by Iowa began even before the Wildcats and Hawkeyes were chosen for the game, Ramsey said.

Normally, Music City Bowl officials prefer to have their game on Dec. 29. That makes it easier for visiting fans to find hotel rooms before music lovers descend on Nashville for the city’s annual “New Year’s Eve Live” concert.

This year, however, the NFL scheduled a Dallas Cowboys-Tennessee Titans game in Nashville on Dec. 29. Ramsey said in his 27 years working in Nashville, he has not seen a fan base travel to the city in the massive numbers that the backers of “America’s Team” did.

“(Cowboys fans) had a six-month head start on Kentucky and Iowa fans on booking hotel rooms,” Ramsey said. “We knew that was going to be a real kind of logistical challenge for us this year.”

Once the 2022 Music City Bowl ended up on New Year’s Eve, the television slot available was noon (EST, 11 a.m. local time in Nashville) on ABC opposite the Sugar Bowl on ESPN.

Ramsey said the combination of Cowboys fans occupying hotel rooms and the early kickoff time influenced the bowl’s interest in Kentucky. “They have so many local, day-tripping fans, they could still come to the game, 11 o’clock kick, and not be so crunched with long-stay hotels,” he said.

Complicating that, however, was the fact that the Music City Bowl was set to kick off at the exact same time the Kentucky-Louisville men’s basketball game was to tip off in Rupp Arena.

Ramsey said he had several conversations with UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart about the implications from both of Kentucky’s marquee sports teams being in action simultaneously.

Because U of L has struggled so in 2022-23, “Mitch felt like the situation with the Louisville game this year didn’t have quite as much buzz,” Ramsey said. “But in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have been against a Kentucky-Louisville basketball game. Everybody would say that.”

Creating a further potential drag on Music City Bowl ticket sales was the fact that UK’s two biggest offensive stars, quarterback Will Levis and running back Christopher Rodriguez, opted out of the game to prepare for the 2023 NFL Draft.

Some theorize that bowl promoters need to use name, image and likeness provisions to create financial incentive for draft-eligible star players to participate in their games.

“I’m not sure where I really fall on that,” Ramsey said. “My initial reaction is that I am just not sure that is going to change the direction of opt-ins vs. opt-outs. The reason is, I’m just not that sure that the money (available via a bowl-related NIL deal) is going to be significant enough to change a potential (NFL Draft) first-rounder’s decision.”

Regardless, Ramsey said he thinks the decisions of Levis and Rodriguez not to play for Kentucky had less impact on the Music City Bowl attendance than the fact that UK’s 7-5 regular-season record did not meet the Big Blue Nation’s preseason expectations.

With the College Football Playoff set to expand from four to 12 teams in 2024 and with most of the contracts between bowls, conferences and television providers (largely ESPN/ABC) scheduled to expire in 2025, Ramsey said there is much uncertain about the future for stand-alone bowl games.

Nashville would seem well-positioned to thrive whatever shape the coming landscape takes. The city is at the final stage in the governmental process that is expected to lead to the construction of a new $2.2 billion domed stadium to be built near the current Nissan Stadium.

If all goes as planned, the new venue could be ready as soon as the 2026 football season. Once the domed stadium becomes available, Ramsey said Nashville will be aggressive in bidding on events such as the Super Bowl, the College Football National Championship Game and the men’s college basketball Final Four.

(At least initially, Ramsey said there are no plans to move the SEC men’s college hoops tourney — contracted to be in Nashville through 2035 — from the 18,500-seat Bridgestone Arena into the new dome.)

In the meantime, Ramsey said the flat showing by Kentucky both on the field and in the stands in the 2022 Music City Bowl has not dimmed Nashville’s enthusiasm for playing host to the BBN moving forward.

“I think we’ve had a pretty special relationship in this city with that fan base,” Ramsey said. “This year, there were a lot of factors … that just all aligned to make things a little tougher on various fronts. But it certainly won’t impact how we view Kentucky going forward at all.”

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