Nissan extends naming rights to new Tennessee Titans stadium

Nissan announced Friday it has signed a 20-year naming-rights deal for the planned new home of the Tennessee Titans NFL franchise. Financial details were not disclosed.

Scheduled for completion in 2027, the $2.1 billion Nissan Stadium will host Titans home games, Tennessee State University football games, concerts and civic events.

The new venue will be built on the east side of the current stadium campus, along Nashville's East Bank. It will sport a circular translucent roof, exterior porches with panoramic views of Nashville, and a 12,000-square-foot community space. A new development will replace the current stadium.

Tennessee is home to Nissan's North American headquarters, a vehicle assembly plant and a powertrain factory. The automaker employs more than 11,000 people in the state.

"Nissan Stadium is a centerpiece of the Nashville skyline and has become a household name in Middle Tennessee," Nissan Americas Chairperson Jeremie Papin said in a statement. "It is important for Nissan to keep our name on the new stadium."

The stadium sponsorship deal expands on a partnership between the Titans and Nissan that began in 2015.

The initial stadium naming rights occurred against a backdrop of Nissan getting serious about competing in the full-size truck segment. In late 2015, Nissan introduced its redesigned full-size pickup — coincidentally named the Titan.

The new sponsorship deal offers Nissan a bigger marketing stage and follows a multiyear product reboot that took the company's lineup to one of the industry's freshest from among its oldest.

The deal also comes as the Japanese automaker struggles for market traction. Nissan Group, which includes luxury brand Infiniti, suffered a 25 percent sales slump in U.S. sales last year.

The new high-tech Nissan Stadium would position Nashville to better compete for more national sporting events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness college football tournament.

Nissan's sponsorship deal includes areas in the stadium for brand experiences and displays and involvement in the Titans' broadcast platforms.

Nissan will also support a program in the Titans ONE Community philanthropic platform, which reaches Nashville's underrepresented and marginalized communities.