The league has finally made it official. The 2019 NFL Draft will be held in Nashville next April 25-27.

Players, coaches, executives, and fans from across the NFL are expected to flock to Nashville for this three-day celebration of young talent ready to make their debuts professionally. NFL Network will also provide over 70 hours of live draft coverage, giving Nashville yet another opportunity to shine in the national spotlight.

At first glance, this feels like a big “hurrah” story for the city, but this is far beyond a simple cheer. This is a story of how far Nashville has come as a sports town in a very short amount of time.

Does anyone else remember what lower Broadway looked like 25 to 30 years ago? It was certainly not the place we see today. The revitalization over the next few year years up till now took plenty of time and effort.  Welcome Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen to the scene. Bredesen led the charge for high-level professional sports in Nashville by luring late Houston Oilers/Titans Owner K.S. Bud Adams to the Volunteer State and play NFL football in Memphis, while a new stadium would be built by the Cumberland River. From an early run to Super Bowl XXIV in 1999, to the enormous crowd that showed up for the Titans jersey reveal last month. That’s fandom at its finest. Fan participation is what has driven Nashville to the upper echelon of sports town in the United States and helped land the NFL draft here.

It was really only a matter of time before this happened. The NFL is just late to jump on the Nashville bandwagon. Obviously, the NHL is on board with Nashville by bringing the All Star Game and the draft here as well. With the introduction of Nashville FC, the MLS is also all aboard. The SEC and NCAA have fallen into recent love with Nashville as well after the great successes of both NCAA and SEC tournament basketball games and the Music City Bowl. Even Major League Baseball has noticed Nashville by bringing the 2015 Winter Meetings to the Opryland Resort. Finally, Nashville has caught the NFL’s eye and joins the ranks of Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York as cities worthy of draft in recent years.

So what’s next? It’s hard to get much bigger than an event that is estimated to bring in a $95 million economic impact.

But bigger is possible.

Is it possible that the draft is really just a trial run for a potential Super Bowl? Sure, a new stadium might be needed if Nashville wants a Super Bowl, but there would be time for a project of that magnitude. The NFL just awarded football’s biggest stage to Arizona and New Orleans for 2023 and 2024, but 2025 is wide open.

When taking into account how far Nashville has come in such a short time, a Super Bowl in the next decade really doesn’t seem such a crazy idea. Either way, April 25-27, 2019,  will be Nashville’s time to shine.

So bring on the NFL draft, Nashville is more than ready.