Nashville Stars Presents to the TSU Board Meeting

I think if there was anything rare on the TSU Ag lands we would have heard about it long before now. Keep in mind that TSU has not been maintaining the land to preserve it or to protect anything. They've been using for Ag research. Even Ag research would have been halted had some rare species of anything been found on that property. There used to be far more animals on the property than what we see today. At one point you would have thought TSU had a beef and dairy farm. There were even horses at one point. TSU has done impact studies on pesticides, fertilizers, soil amendments and so much more than most of us will ever know on that property. So, again if there was something rare found in that area, TSU has kept it secret or we would have known about by now.

While at the moment the city isn't showing any interest in providing support for MLB, I do believe that if MLB actually announces they want to establish a team in Nashville and back this group that is looking to bring MLB to Nashville, the city will probably begin working with the group in some form or fashion. I do not believe the city will even remotely contribute to the cost of building the actual stadium and other structures. But, they'd be hard pressed to not provide some level of support with the infrastructure. After all the city talks about developing underdeveloped areas of Nashville and spreading the benefits of its growth to all areas. It won't go over too well within the Black community in particular, if the city balks at spending money to help with infrastructure for a stadium project in North Nashville while it offers the same to the Titans and other incentives to businesses looking to build in downtown, midtown, the east bank, etc. A stadium project in the TSU area can be an economic engine for the area as a whole.

But, let me clear... I won't be onboard with this idea of building a MLB stadium on TSU property until I see what the full short term and long term benefits are to TSU. I don't want to see a MLB stadium on TSU's campus just for the sake of saying we're the only HBCU or any school for that matter with a major league sports venue on campus. That's not a selling point to grow TSU's enrollment. I want to see specifics on what TSU gains from such a deal that includes new facilities for TSU and funding commitments for academic programs and athletics. I also want to see some language that addresses the need to secure Ag research land for TSU that is within the metro Nashville area. This will allow for undergrad students to continue participating in Ag research without having to travel to some distant research property that is currently owned by TSU but is prohibitive to undergrad students because of the inconvenience of traveling to those locations. Granted, we all need to understand that the scale of this project makes it a multi-phase, multi-year project. So, new Ag research land doesn't have to be available from the jump start. I just want TSU to ensure that as the project reaches certain stages, that alternative Ag land sites in the metro area not only need to be identified but secured.

I'm also not onboard because I simply do not believe that TSU have the right people on staff or contracted with to help negotiate a project of this magnitude. This is not a simple real estate deal. There's so much more that needs to be considered in the overall scope of this project. TSU's leadership and BOT's has not shown me that they have the knowledge or experience base to navigate this scale of a project. I don't want TSU waking up 5, 10, 15, 20+ years from now and find that it didn't understand the full scope of what it got itself into and getting burned in the end.