The NFL is poised to set future locations for two of its top events at its spring meeting this week in Orlando.
Team owners, meeting Tuesday in central Florida, are likely to approve Nashville as the host city for Super Bowl LXIV in 2030, according to industry sources and multiple reports. The selection of the Titans’ home market, initially reported by the NFL Network, will help herald the new $2.1 billion Nissan Stadium, set to open next year, and it will be the first time the NFL’s biggest event is held in Music City.
That forthcoming domed facility was supported in part by $1.26 billion in public funding, and the choice continues a long-held league practice of rewarding cities with new stadiums—particularly those aided with taxpayer funds—with a Super Bowl hosting slot. Nashville, meanwhile, drew 600,000 fans when it hosted the NFL Draft in 2019, beginning a run of attendance records for that event that reached another peak this year with 805,000 attending in Pittsburgh.
Expanded Schedule in Play?
What’s unknown with the Nashville Super Bowl, however, is the exact date of that game. The league is still considering a move to an 18-game schedule, something that needs approval from the NFL Players Association, which is reluctant at best on this issue. That would, in turn, alter the date of the Super Bowl, and because of the uncertainty around the 18-game regular season, there aren’t firm dates yet either for Super Bowl LXII in 2028 in Atlanta or Super Bowl LXIII in 2029 in Las Vegas.
That lack of clarity has complicated some of the planning for ancillary Super Bowl events, particularly in Atlanta.
The upcoming Super Bowl LXI will be in Los Angeles, buttressed by a hefty programming and promotional push by game broadcaster ESPN and its parent company Disney.
As for the draft, meanwhile, Minnesota is set to receive the firm nod to host the 2028 event following Washington, D.C., next year. The Vikings’ home market will have a high mark to reach as officials in the nation’s capital are already aiming to beat the attendance record from Pittsburgh, and draw more than 1 million fans across the three-day event.
The Vikings formally tendered their bid for the draft last month, and once the choice is made official, it will complete a run through the NFC North division markets following Chicago in 2015 and 2016, Detroit in 2024, and Green Bay in 2025. Amid the runaway success in Pittsburgh, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said, “We’re going to probably have to start allocating the drafts a little further in advance.”
Other League Business
While those two event placements will highlight the spring meeting agenda, there are other pressing matters at hand.
League owners will formally approve a lease deal between the Commanders and the District of Columbia to build a new stadium on the grounds of RFK Stadium. The D.C. Council formally approved a stadium funding plan last September, and the Commanders unveiled an initial design in January inspired by the team’s former home.
There will be an update on a Bears stadium situation that has stalled in the Illinois legislature in recent weeks, as some Chicago leaders, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, are still trying to keep the team in the city. That’s happening despite repeated statements from the team, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and the NFL that the stadium site choice is down to either Hammond, Ind., or Arlington Heights, Ill., and has been for months.
The league could also move to increase its number of international games in 2027 to 10, upping the total from a current record of nine that are set for the 2026 season. With the Jaguars’ separate agreement to play in London, the vote could position the NFL to play as many as 11 global games next year.
The NFL will additionally be reviving its accelerator program, which seeks to “advance talent from underrepresented groups,” but had been paused in 2025. Among the names in the 34-person pool is Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, the head coach of the Dolphins from 2022 to 2025.
