I recently had the opportunity to talk to Butch Spyridon about his upcoming retirement after a remarkable, 30-plus-year career leading the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation. You can see part one of my interview here.
Butch Spyridon is not the type of person to gloat and declare 'I told you so!' — but he might allow a bit of public relishment when it comes to the Music City Center. The sprawling, modern downtown convention center is now a decade old, and its success is hard to deny. Just ask Spyridon. He'll gladly recite impressive stats and financials of a project many believe lit the fuse for Nashville's exponential growth.
"'Nashville's not a destination. Conventions are dying. The city's gonna have to bail this building out.' That was the argument. And — wrong, wrong, wrong," said Spyridon.
"Do you ever want to go up to some of those folks, some of those 'friendly faces' you remember and say I told you so?" I asked.
"Every day," Spyridon said. "If I could communicate to Mayor Purcell and Emily Evans I would say, 'y'know, we're due an apology.'"
The Music City Center opened its doors in 2013, the same year Nashville's growth and vibrancy caught the eye of the New York Times, which in a profile piece, famously dubbed us as the new "It City." Spyridon called the exposure a blessing and a curse.
"For the New York Times to shine a light on this city: invaluable PR. Validation. They saw what most Nashvillians didn't see," Spyridon said. "The curse was that everybody wanted to talk about it. We kept clinging to 'We're the 'it city'. We forgot for a while that to keep that moniker you gotta keep working.' You gotta keep goin' forward."
Going forward — not back — seems to be part of Spyridon's DNA.
"My nature. My entire career. What's next? How do we climb this ladder?"
The rungs on that ladder are never-ending for Spyridon. When Nashville hosted the Stanley Cup Finals in 2017, he and his staff organized watch parties, drawing thousands of Preds fans downtown. They joined thousands of music fans already here for CMA Fest. It was a remarkable scene, one that Spyridon used to leverage another big idea.
"So 50,000 people watching TV in the street. I'm on the roof of Tootsie's taking a picture, sending it to the NFL and saying: 'We're practicing for you.'"
That was part of his sales pitch to host the NFL Draft, which became a reality just two years later, and by all accounts was a huge success. For Spyridon, it was more leverage.
"And then when we had the draft, took pictures, sent it to FIFA, and said, 'We're practicin' for you.'"
Spyridon credits several other key moments and events that have helped propel the city's success — including the TV show "Nashville," the ever-growing culinary scene, the growth and popularity of big events, including IndyCar racing, the NHL Draft, New Year's Eve, July Fourth, and of course, the annual CMA Fest which just celebrated its 50th year.
"CMA may be the most valuable asset this city has. They unite the industry in a unique way that no other genre has."
Spyridon also credits Nashvillians themselves. He's watched as the city rebounded from big challenges: 9/11, the 2010 flood, tornadoes, the Christmas Day bombing and most recently, The Covenant School shooting.
"We say all the time Nashville's secret sauce is our ability to collaborate and cooperate with each other," Spyridon said. "We like each other. We're pulling for each other."
But Nashville's rapid growth has strained some of that optimism. Many longtime residents raise an important question: is the city losing its soul?
"Cities are either growing or dying. You don't sit still," Spyridon said. "When I hear 'I miss the old Nashville' I'll go — 'so do you miss the boarded up buildings and adult peep shows on Broadway? Do you miss the old airport? 'Do you miss not having great dining?' I could go on and on."
Just weeks before Spyridon's retirement, the city put its stamp of approval on one of the biggest and most impactful projects to date: a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans. Even for this forward-thinking, swing-for-the-fences leader, it's something he wasn't sure would ever happen — even calling it an "unrealistic dream."
"I didn't think the state would put up half a billion dollars to have a roof," Spyridon said.
But the state did, and the plan slowly came together. But it's a plan — like the Music City Center — that has its critics.
"Like one of our mayoral candidates called it a 'tourism toy.' That is an insult and that is an underestimation of that building for this city, this region," Spyridon said.
Don't be surprised if years from now, Spyridon is back — with stats in hand — saying "I told you so."
"Our job is to market this city. We're pretty good at it. And this city has benefited greatly by that."
