CMT News

The new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will generate between $21.9 and $28.6 million in economic activity during its first full year of operation, according to an Owen Graduate School of Management study released Oct. 31.

The estimated economic impact of the new facility is more than four times greater than the actual economic impact of the current Music Row facility in 1999, the study says.

"This news confirms what those of us who have been working on the project have believed for a long time," Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Director Kyle Young said. "The new building will have an enormous impact on Middle Tennessee's economy, and on the downtown experience for visitors and residents alike."

Young went on to say that factors such as the new facility's full-service restaurant and catering service, increased meeting space, four theaters, and more than three acres of exhibit space are additional reasons for an increased economic impact. Large corporate sponsorships, such as Ford, and special promotions, such as Emersia Entertainment's "For the Good Times" traveling country music attraction, will also bolster the building's economic impact on the city.

"The report is good news for us as a city. Already, we're confident that the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will make us a destination for tourists, conventions and fans of this great cornerstone of our city," Mayor Bill Purcell said.

The Economic Impact Study of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Nashville and Middle Tennessee was conducted by Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management Professor Richard W. Oliver and graduate student Whitney Malocha.

The study calculates the economic impact of the current facility on Music Row and compares those numbers to the projected impact of the new downtown facility scheduled to open in May 2001.

"The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will more than quadruple its economic impact on this area when it moves downtown," Oliver said. "We studied job creation, community morale, increased tourism and other factors to determine our projected impact figures."

Key findings in the study include:

The new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will generate between $21.9 million and $28.6 million of economic activity during its first full year of operation (beginning May 2001); this compares to $5.4 million generated by the current facility in 1999.
The new facility will generate between $110.5 million and $143.7 million of economic activity over the next five-year period.
An estimated 120 jobs will be created in the Middle Tennessee region during the new facility's first full year of operation, which is double the number of jobs created by the Music Row facility in 1999.
The new facility will create more than 600 jobs during its first five years of operation.
The study also concludes that the new facility will generate a number of qualitative benefits, including increased brand equity, psychic income and the stimulation of additional developments.

"This study underscores our expectations for the new Hall of Fame downtown," Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Vice President Butch Spyridon said. "Anyone who has been on a tour or heard about the new building knows that this will be a true destination attraction. We have no doubt that Nashville-area hotels, restaurants and other businesses will see a jump in business as a result of this project."

Dr. Richard W. Oliver joined Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management in 1985 and received his Ph.D. from State University of New York. Before joining Vanderbilt, Dr. Oliver served as vice president of corporate marketing for Northern Telecom and, prior to that, in the U.S. and Canadian marketing departments of Du Pont Company. He is an active consultant for several Tennessee businesses including BellSouth, Tennessee Pride and Central Parking System.

The new $37 million Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is scheduled to open in downtown Nashville in May 2001. The Hall of Fame will provide Nashville with a state-of-the-art cultural tourist destination estimated to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The facility will include a full-service restaurant and catering service, four theaters, numerous interactive exhibits and roughly three acres of exhibit space.