The stadium fight has been emotional. During a televised town hall meeting on Monday night, an audience member essentially told Michael McClure, the Oilers' executive vice president, that he was not welcome in town. After the event, a stadium proponent rejected a handshake offered by Mr. Kleinfelter.

Some families are deeply divided. Whenever Councilman Durward G. Hall has appeared on talk radio to explain his opposition to the deal, his son, Daron, has phoned in to tell him he is wrong. Mr. Hall's wife, Gayle, has planted a pro-stadium sign in their front yard.

"Will you be a witness at my divorce?" Mr. Hall asked in an interview.

Few would have thought such a brawl would break out in Nashville. Despite the renaissance of country music, it remains a triple-A town whose leaders are desperate to broaden their city's one-dimensional image and keep pace with the region's other aspiring Atlantas.

"This is a way for us to get noticed as something other than a small town with good country music," said Dick Darr, the chairman of Yes for Nashville, the pro-stadium campaign committee.

If the referendum fails, Oilers officials say they will take their team elsewhere. N.F.L. owners approved the move to Nashville this week.

The referendum is needed to approve the sale of $80 million in general obligation bonds for construction of the 67,000-seat stadium. The city's total contribution to the project would be about $150 million. The rest of the cost would be covered with state money and proceeds from the sale of licenses that permit fans to purchase season tickets.

Mr. Bredesen estimates that the city's annual debt service payments would be $8 million, less than 1 percent of its $900 million budget. Half of that amount would be collected by tapping surpluses amassed by Nashville's water utility, which charges some of the highest rates in the country. The rest would come from existing tax revenues.