The first game played at what was then Adelphia Coliseum in 1999 brought a sellout crowd, a Titans preseason victory and rave reviews for the “polished up and perfectly groomed” new sports venue.

“It’s just a magnificent stadium, just a tremendous facility,” the ESPN announcer Mike Patrick gushed to TV viewers.

Well, that was then, and this is now. Adelphia Coliseum – later just the Coliseum, then LP Field and since 2006 Nissan Stadium – is today, we’re told, basically a $292 million tear-down: a maintenance-neglected, down-at-the-heels structure too expensive to upgrade.

What’s needed, we’re also told, is a brand spanking new stadium just east of the current one. To the tune of $2 billion.

Twenty-three years seems a bit soon for a stadium to have worn out. Hey, my house is 110 years old and still habitable. And $2 billion is a whole lot of money.

But as we’ve seen, $292 million won’t even get you a half-size, futbol stadium these days. (The 30,000-seat Nashville Soccer Club home, opening in May, is $335 million, give or take.)

Full disclosure: I have never set foot in Nissan Stadium, under any name. I’m more of a baseball guy.

But I was here in the 1990s, when the notion of seducing the Houston Oilers by building them a new home first arose. As anyone else who was around then remembers, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.

We’d already built a new arena for $144 million, which Mayor Phil Bredesen hoped would attract a National Hockey League franchise. It hadn’t. Still, Bredesen was pitching a twice-that-size project to lure the Oilers. Metro Council sided with him but, alarmed at the prospects of using $150 million or so in local money, opponents forced a referendum on the issue.

A $400,000 “Yes for Nashville” campaign helped deliver a 59-to-41% victory for the stadium. Lesson: Never bet against football in the South.

Fortune smiled on the rebranded Titans that first year with an 11-3 regular season record that included victories in every single game played at Adelphia. By the time of the Music City Miracle – a stirring bit of kickoff-return razzle-dazzle that delivered a last-minute playoff victory – old disagreements were largely forgotten.

And when the Titans made it to the Super Bowl at the end of that season, you’d have thought they were as much a part of Nashville as the Grand Ole Opry.

The love affair continues. Maybe that’s why Mayor John Cooper has aligned himself with the new stadium proposal, with his usual fiscal responsibility caveats.

“The Titans are important to Nashville, and we know that being here is important to the Titans,” Brandon Marshall, a spokesman, said in response to emailed questions. “Mayor Cooper is pursuing a taxpayer-friendly proposal to keep the Titans in Nashville for the long term.”

Everything is in the very early stages, Marshall noted. A focus is figuring out how to get to $2 billion.

“Multiple financing mechanisms are being discussed,” Marshall said, “and we can safely say that multiple funding streams will be necessary given the scope of the project.”

I’ve checked a half-dozen or so sources, and Nissan typically ranks in the low 20s among the 30 NFL stadiums. ESPN had it highest, at 16: “The location is second to none,” it said, though “The stadium received low marks for personality and tradition.”

I don’t know what Nissan’s personality issues might be, but the chief complaints seem to be that it’s boring. Generic.

Tradition is certainly a big factor. The highest-ranked stadium – No. 1 on four of the lists – is Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The oldest stadium constructed specifically for NFL use, opened in 1957, Lambeau has the advantage of housing a team that has won 13 NFL championships, including four Super Bowls. The Titans have none. (OK, OK, the Oilers won two AFL championships. Who cares?)

The two most recent stadiums to join the NFL lineup, both in 2020, range widely in costs. Allegiant, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, cost $1.9 billion. SoFi, home of the Los Angeles Rams and the Chargers, cost $4.9 billion.

SoFi was home to this year’s Super Bowl. Allegiant will host in 2024.

Maybe the hope is that a new stadium could deliver a Super Bowl to Nashville, which would be all well and good.

But for $2 billion, I’d rather have a World Series.

Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville. He can be reached at [email protected]