When a city decides to invest in a new stadium for its NFL team, it often wants to make sure to prioritize everything that can be done to maximize the stadium’s value. For the City of Nashville, that meant using the new stadium being built for the Tennessee Titans for more than just the eight home games the team would play every year. To that end, the Nashville Sports Council began talking with the SEC about a new bowl game to be called the Music City Bowl. Once the right partnerships were in place, organizers were able to move forward with the plan. On December 29, 1998, the inaugural Music City Bowl was played at Vanderbilt Stadium (ending with a 38-7 Virginia Tech win over Alabama). Twenty-six years later, having generated over $400 million in direct economic impact for the city, the game now pits the Big Ten vs. SEC and has become a mainstay on the Nashville sports calendar. This year’s game will take place on December 30th at 1 pm.