NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With a great deal of non-football costs since 2020, I’ve wondered just what kind of financial shape the Titans are in on the football side right now and will be in by the time they move into their new stadium for the 2027 season.
It was one of the primary questions I took to Phoenix for the NFL annual meeting recently and a league source with a clear understanding of the team’s finances told me there were “zero issues.”
I also raised the question with general manager Ran Carthon, who said owner Amy Adams Strunk or anyone in ownership and management had not mentioned any big-picture team finances as having any bearing on football outlays to him. [Unlocked]
“I have never had that conversation,” Carthon said. “And Miss Amy, Kenneth (Adams), Barclay (Adams), Burke (Nihil) and everybody upstairs have all been super supportive of every move. We’ve overcommunicated at each space. ‘Here’s who we’re targeting, here’s the range we think we’re coming in. I like for her to see those things and have them in front of her and she’s been super supportive. Nothing about the stadium and assets allocated for the stadium has come up in our talks.”
In December of 2020, the franchise’s parent company, KSA Industries, bought Susie Smith’s 33.3 percent of team ownership.
That deal amounted to the team’s chairman of the board of directors, Strunk, winding up with 50 percent of the franchise and Kenneth Adams, Barclay Adams and their mother, Susan Lewis, collectively holding the other half of the team.
It also settled the NFL’s objections to the Titans’ ownership structure, which the team did not believe were legitimate.
The Titans were estimated to be worth $2.5 billion in 2020.
So that purchase could have cost the two remaining sides of ownership – the Strunk side and the Adams/Adams/Lewis side -- around $416 million each. It's possible other assets of KSA Industries were reallocated as part of the deal lowering that price. KSA also includes oil interests, cattle ranching, auto dealerships and more.
Forbes raised the value of the franchise to $3.5 billion in August of 2022.
Strunk also paid $14 million for 330 acres in Williamson County in late 2022.
Now the team has pledged to finance $840 million toward the new indoor stadium that will be built in the parking lot to the east of Nissan Stadium plus all cost overruns for the building that is now expected to open in time for the 2027 NFL season.
That money will be paid by the time the team moves in.
The NFL’s G4 Stadium Program will cover up to $200 million of that with grants and loans and another share of it will be funded by personal seat licenses sold to ticket-holders.
Largely basing their list on Forbes’ real-time billionaire’s list, Pro Football Journal ranked Strunk as the 24th richest owner in the NFL estimating her to be worth $1.6 billion in early 2023.
New stadiums are clearly good for the league which helps them get built.
Since 2010 we’ve seen new venues for the Jets/Giants, 49ers, Vikings, Falcons, Rams/Changers and Raiders. The Bills are scheduled to move into a new venue in 2026.
It’s clear the NFL was not going to assist in the building of any of those stadiums if it felt ownership's role in financing them would have hurt their ability to operate the football side of the business.
And Strunk and the Titans are just fine across the board as they head toward the big investment in the new stadium and the necessary investment in players and player resources.
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