New Nissan Stadium Culture Document impelling force

Article posted by Coliseum, May 21^st, 2026

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Kellen DeCoursey is in a top role with the National Football League (NFL) team Tennessee Titans (US) for the last five years.

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DeCoursey has been in the design and construction business for the last 20 years. He started out in the general contracting role – “I have been working on all great projects but nothing has been more special than when the Titans contacted me to lead the New Nissan Stadium project for them. So, that’s where I have been for the past five years.”

Kellen DeCoursey currently serves as the Project Executive for the National Football League (NFL) team Tennessee Titans where he is leading the development of the New Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee (US) – a $2.2 billion NFL venue which is presently under construction and will serve as the anchor of Nashville’s East Bank transformation and the new home of the Tennessee Titans.

In an exclusive for ‘Coliseum’, Kellen DeCoursey, Director, Stadium Development, Tennessee Titans, US, walks Kenneth Johnson EVP, National Sports and Venues, AECOM Hunt, US, through the New Nissan Stadium project construction of which is presently underway in Nashville, Tennessee (US), and says that any design project is tough – “And once you take it to this magnitude as regards the New Nissan Stadium it gets that much tougher. So, when we started out with the idea of building a new building I kind of just took a step back and said how can we start this process differently, how can we really get people aligned and ultimately rowing in the same direction aligned on one goal of creating a successful project and ultimately we came up with the idea of a Culture Document as part of which every stakeholder involved in the project including the architects’ voice was being heard in the document. So, we worked on it together and I think it’s very unique and it’s been working really well for us.”

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee (US). They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) South Division. The 69,143-capacity Nissan Stadium in Nashville serves as their home venue.

New Nissan Stadium

The 60,000-seat New Nissan Stadium is an indoor multipurpose stadium under construction in Nashville, Tennessee (US). Scheduled to open in the summer of 2027, it is to replace the Nissan Stadium as the home ground for the NFL team Tennessee Titans.

Kellen DeCoursey started the conversation by stating, “I just think what is going to be amazing about the New Nissan Stadium is the amount of events that we will be able to host, the things that we were missing out on in such a great city and now we can have these major events and the people can experience Nashville and there is going to be revenue galore from this and it’s just exciting.”

Team Work

Kenneth Johnson mentioned that in any project the partnership and collaboration is important – “Putting the team together from the builder to the architect and the vendors.”

DeCoursey revealed that he has been through a lot of “trials and tribulations on a lot of these major projects that I have done”.

Johnson stated that “These projects are like a marriage and you got to know the expectations going into it to be successful.”

North West Corner

Talking about the New Nissan Stadium, DeCoursey informed, “The North West corner of the New Nissan Stadium kind of really looking down the West elevation of the building, we call it the front door of the stadium and it will have this amazing view to downtown once we get rid of the existing Nissan Stadium. There is a Box on the top of the ring beam that was actually set and it has been very monumental for us to stay on track with the schedule.”

Culture Document

DeCoursey added, “When we started on the New Nissan Stadium project we just wanted to work in collaboration as a team, transparency in communication and no egos involved. As per the Culture Document we are all going to work together, everybody is going to make a mistake and we are going to pick up the mistakes for everybody and we are going to work together as a team to solve problems and so we are really just looking for people that are solution-oriented, communicating and listening. I think success comes in many different ways at the end of a project. I think you know focusing on the team building, what success would look like for us and I hope for our design partners.”

He added, “We are ultimately able to have tough conversations with each other and I think that’s one of the things that we look forward to and what we have been doing on the New Nissan Stadium project is not hiding behind issues and just making sure that we are able to sit at the table and hash things out instead of hide behind issues and that is the idea behind the Culture Document.”

Budget

Maintained DeCoursey, “I think budget is always so important and ultimately the stakeholders just need to be aligned on everything to ensure that we are on budget. So, being on budget is definitely a sign of success. I think ultimately when we started off the New Nissan Stadium project we ensured that our program at the outset was aligned with the budget and the design was aligned with the budget and just ensuring that we are starting off in the right footing.”

Johnson stated that the operational piece was very important in a venue project and once a venue project is over the operational teams come into the picture and manages all.

Outdoor Terraces

Added DeCoursey, “The outdoor terraces are definitely a unique feature of the New Nissan Stadium I think and it just ultimately defines from an exterior perspective the unique areas to go in the stadium. But, I guess ultimately when we were designing the stadium we really focused on the fact that it was going to be on the East Bank, a part of new downtown Nashville, something which doesn’t even exist today and it will be space ship like if you will from some of the more current stadiums. It is recto linear in its nature and I think that’s a beautiful scale and I think that’s also a game changer for the NFL. But, we really did focus on functionality and simplicity in the building so I think a 360-degree connected concourse vs. frictionless marketplaces and we just want to make it a great fan experience.”

Conclusion

Kellen DeCoursey concluded by stating, “I am excited about the New Nissan Stadium and I just feel like being involved in everything. I do think these terraces are special and unique and I think we are going to be working on ways to activate that so it is available even on non-event days.”

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