No Super Bowl for Tennessee Kids
Gov. Lee's priorities are clear, and kids aren't on the list
In case you haven’t heard, the Super Bowl is coming to Nashville in 2030.
Gov. Lee and other state and local leaders are touting the event as an “arrival” for Nashville and the State of Tennessee.
State Rep. Aftyn Behn is a bit skeptical.
Behn takes a look at economic studies analyzing the fiscal impact of Super Bowls for cities.
Sure, there is some money that comes in. But, as Behn points out, it is a far cry from what the NFL promises.
Also of note: What the mad rush to spend state and local dollars to enrich the Titans (and their owners) says about the state’s priorities.
In short, big money matters, and kids don’t.
I wrote about the juxtaposition of hundreds of millions of dollars spent to build the new stadium while hundreds of kids in DCS custody are sleeping on the floors of state office buildings - back in 2022.
Since then, the situation at DCS hasn’t improved too much, as The Tennessean reports:
The number of Tennessee children in state custody sleeping in Department of Children's Services offices skyrocketed in 2025, data obtained by The Tennessean shows. A total of 445 kids spent at least one night in a DCS office while they awaited placement last year, marking a 400% increase from 89 children in 2024.
In addition to the ongoing DCS crisis for which there is apparently no solution, in the past two years, Gov. Lee has refused to allow the state to participate in the Sun Bucks program. This federally-funded initiative helps bridge the gap for families with kids on free/reduced lunch during the summer, providing a small extra subsidy to EBT funds.
“Instead of serving 700,000 Tennessee children through Summer EBT, TDHS’s program will reach a max of 25,000 children. Despite spending nearly as much as it would take to serve the entire state, the Tennessee program will reach less than 4% of the children that received Summer EBT in 2024.”
Lee rejected $75 million in federal funds that would have supported a program to add funds to EBT cards for families whose kids receive free/reduced lunch during the school year.
So, kids in DCS custody are sleeping on office floors, kids facing hunger and going without in the summer, and just this year, Tennessee reached the dubious distinction of ranking last in the nation in funding for schools.
Dead last — 51st — in per-student spending. Tennessee spent $12,147 per student in average daily attendance in the 2024–25 school year, ranking 51st nationally — last among all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That’s a three-spot collapse from the prior year’s 48th-place ranking. The national average is $19,393 per student — more than $7,200 above what Tennessee invests. (Per NEA Rankings of the States 2025; page 30)
We’d need to add $1.9 billion to catch up with our neighbors in Mississippi.
But hey, we’ve got the Super Bowl coming. And in just a few years, there will be all this economic impact and surely some of those dollars will make it to help out kids.
Except the economic impact is largely imaginary. And will largely benefit large corporations and the already quite wealthy owners of the Titans.
Still, Tennessee kids can get excited about the Super Bowl - even if policymakers can’t quite get excited about doing things that would actually help Tennessee kids.