Tennessee State University Board of Trustees recently discussed potential developments to several departments across campus, including constructing several athletic facilities.
The Board of Trustees met to update the Tennessee State University Master Plan to draft several future development opportunities and partnerships including a new football stadium, ice hockey stadium and an MLB stadium along with several new athletic facilities.
The announcement came days before Tennessee State’s football home opener at Nissan Stadium. Tennessee State defeated Gardner-Webb University 27-25 in front of an underwhelming crowd of 3,869, which is less than half of last year’s opener of 11,553 at Hale Stadium.
Tennessee State currently plays its home football games at Hale Stadium and Nissan Stadium. Hale Stadium has a capacity of 15,000 and is on campus and is rarely used to host games. Nissan Stadium, which is the home of the Tennessee Titans, has a capacity of 69,143 and has hosted the majority of home games since 1999.
Although a football stadium has been drafted in the master plan, the Titans announced in August their plan to construct a new stadium in Nashville and will continue to host Tennessee State football games. TSU may only fill a small percentage of the capacity of Nissan Stadium, but it will continue to play in the new stadium because they will save money. It will be interesting to see how Tennessee State plans to use a brand new on-campus football stadium while playing games at Nissan Stadium and the future stadium.
Along with a brand new football stadium, Tennessee State is planning to build an ice hockey arena for their new ice hockey team. TSU will be the first HBCU to have an ice hockey team, so it is fitting that they have a home on campus to play games. The ice hockey program will play their first season in 2024, but there are no details on when TSU will construct an arena for the team.
Tennessee State plans to use a piece of their land to construct an MLB Stadium for a possible MLB expansion team. TSU teamed up with Music City Baseball to give them a potential location for a stadium if Nashville is awarded as an expansion destination. Music City Baseball plans to bring former Negro League Baseball team, the Nashville Stars, to Major League Baseball. The former Negro League team could play their home games on land owned by a historically black college.
The master plan lists several other potential upgrades on Tennessee State’s campus in both athletics and other departments. Other major future developments include a new rowing facility, baseball stadium, soccer complex, sand volleyball court, indoor golf practice facility, band facility, a facility to replace the Gentry Center and a major hotel and conference center.
TSU will also see developments in the housing, food and animal and environmental departments.
Tennessee State University has plenty of work ahead of them. Expect major changes on campus in coming years.