That’s right, country music isn’t the only draw to this great city. They also secured the Southeastern Men’s and Women’s Basketball Conference with a contract that will generate between $18-$20,000,000, annually, through 2035. One of the key players in orchestrating the winning approach for the contract was Jay Grider, who was Vice President of Events and Operations for the Nashville Sports Council.
In a recent conversation Jay said, “In 2013, having hosted multiple Southeastern Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Sports Council approached the Southeastern Conference inquiring whether Nashville could serve as the primary site for the Men’s Championship. In previous years, the Men’s Championship rotated cities within the Southeastern Conference footprint (Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Tampa). With the SEC experiencing success with other primary cities for their Football (Atlanta) and Baseball Championships (Hoover, AL.), they were open to the idea.”
He continued, “Historically, Nashville TN has long been a popular destination city for many conventions, vacationers, music and sports fans. The city has several big advantages over other metropolitan areas. These include a central location among SEC Universities, city size, an arena located in the heart of the wildly popular music entertainment district, and continuing rave reviews from fans who attended many such conventions there. As we all know, being awarded a convention assumes that the host city and organization can produce a quality event. Otherwise, all of those advantages are irrelevant.”
In his role as VP of Events and Operations for the Nashville Sports Council, Jay led and managed multiple aspects of SEC tournaments over 12 years. Using his years of experience working with public, private, and civic organizations and groups, “the SEC felt confident that they were signing on for a long-term deal that would benefit them, the players, the participating organizations and Nashville. It was a win-win.” Jay worked with his the heads of multiple major organizations in Nashville including the Arena and Conference liaison, Hotel and CVC liaison, Hospitality, Ancillary Events, Volunteers, City Services (Police, Fire, Office of Emergency Management, FBI, Public Works), Transportation and Parking.
What is the bottom line? Nashville has the tournament through 2035. “Securing the event was a team effort, but I feel proud to have played a leadership role in Nashville’s selection by the SEC.”
If you would like to find out more, Jay is always available to share his knowledge with others.
Contact Jay Grider through LinkedIn or his Career WebFolio.
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