Nashville plans for ‘epic’ downtown party as Stanley Cup Final, CMA Fest converge

Joey Garrison | The Tennessean

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What happens when you combine the nation's biggest country music festival and the Nashville Predators' magical Stanley Cup Final run?

Two massive parties and more than 100,000 people in downtown Nashville on Sunday.

Even with the 80,000 daily fans expected for the CMA Music Festival, which begins Thursday and runs through Sunday, downtown viewing parties will go on for Thursday’s Game 5 and Sunday’s Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins.

It’s a scene that city leaders say will be “epic.”

Mayor Megan Barry, Nashville tourism officials, the Predators, and the CMA on Wednesday announced new arrangements for the next two “Broadway Smash parties” that they say will accommodate downtown crowd sizes rivaled only in Nashville by the city’s annual Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Predators’ festivities will include outdoor Stanley Cup viewing parties on Broadway for both games — but this time between Fourth and Seventh avenues, away from the center of the honkey-tonk entertainment strip.

“When you think about what’s going on in this city and this region, with Bonnaroo, CMA, Preds, watch parties — it’s pretty epic,” said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation. “I’m not sure any other city in the country could pull this off, much less even try.”

“We have all been talking about, what if and when this happens, how good would it be?” he said. “Well, how good it will be is up to our Nashville citizens at this point.”

Game 5 viewing party details

For Game 5, which is Thursday at Pittsburgh, the city will move the footprint of the outdoor party on Broadway away from the main Lower Broadway strip, so that it will take place between Fourth and Seventh avenues. The scene there will feature two giant screens, one at Fourth Avenue and one between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

The site will open Thursday at 5 p.m.

In addition, the Predators plan to open Bridgestone Arena for fans to view the game. The team plans to make 13,000 tickets available. Around 5,000 are remaining. Tickets are $5 for season-ticket holders and $15 for non-season ticket holders. Proceeds will benefit the Nashville Predators Foundation.

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Game 6 viewing party details

For Game 6 on Sunday — a home game in Nashville, and potential series clincher for Nashville if the Predators win Thursday — the city plans to host viewing parties at three areas: Broadway, Walk of Fame Park and Ascend Amphitheater.

The plan is to again deploy three giant screens between the same boundaries of Fourth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. Walk of Fame Park and Ascend Amphitheater will have large screens as well. The Broadway site will open at 4 p.m. on Sunday and the Walk of Fame Park site will open when CMA Music Festival activities at the park conclude.

For both events, the Predators will open up Bridgestone Arena's plaza, located immediately outside the arena, to 300 spectators who must first obtain wristbands. Wristbands will be made available at noon the day of the games.

Viewing arrangements for a Game 7, if necessary, are not finalized.

How expected attendance stacks up against other downtown events

CVC and Metro officials say they have taken safety precautions for the influx of people.

“We’ve been working together to come up with a plan that is going to accommodate all the large crowds, making sure that they’re comfortable and making sure that they’re safe,” Barry said. “We’re all working together to make sure all of this is clicking.”

Spyridon said he expects more than 100,000 people could be in downtown Nashville on Sunday. That would include more than 45,000 at Nissan Stadium for the festival, a sellout crowd of nearly 18,000 at Bridgestone Arena for hockey and another 50,000-plus people on the streets

“You get to over 100,000 combined kind of quick, and that’s kind of what we’re prepared for.”

For comparison, Nashville’s downtown July 4th celebration typically draws around 150,000 people — one year peaking at 280,000 people in a half-mile radius around downtown. The city’s New Year’s Eve downtown celebration ranges between 100,000 and 150,000.

CMA Fest schedule unaffected by Stanley Cup Final

Each Stanley Cup final game produced an estimated $5 million in downtown economic impact, he said, which doesn’t include the national international exposure brought to the city.

None of the scheduled acts for the CMA Festival have had to alter start-times as a result of the Stanley Cup Final, according to Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association.

In anticipation of a possible Stanley Cup Final run, she said the CMA held off organizing night concerts at Ascend Amphitheater on Sunday.

“We have had a couple of artists that might have done things for us Sunday night, but now are going to go the Preds game,” Trahern said with a laugh.

She noted that Carrie Underwood, who is married to Predators Center Mike Fisher, is performing with Brad Paisley at Music City Center on Saturday but would likely be at the Predators game on Sunday.

“Which is where she should be,” she said.

Parking? Good luck

Sunday, in particular, promises to be a parking nightmare with events at both Nissan Stadium and Bridgestone Arena.

Parking at Nissan Stadium will be reserved for CMA festival patrons only Sunday.

Officials are encouraging visitors to think about different ways to get downtown, including MTA buses.

“I would point to Uber, Lyft and our taxis first, and certainly patience,” Spyridon said. “There are some inconveniences that go with success and this is the epitome with success.”

But what’s a little inconvenience in exchange for a possible championship?

“I promise you, in 10 years when we’re talking about this to our kids, our friends or grand-kids, we’re not going to be complaining about where we parked or how crowded it was on the plaza or streets,” Predators President and CEO Sean Henry said. “You’re going to be talking about this epic, epic week.”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.