WKRN, Nashville, Tennessee News, Weather, and Sports |Downtown businesses disappointed with bowl contestants
Member Center:
Vanderbilt University will play Boston College in this year's Music City Bowl.
The announcement Sunday came as a disappointment to downtown merchants who, in past years, have benefited greatly from the business out-of-town visitors brought to the city.
Last year, Kentucky brought close to 30,000 fans to Music City. That isn't expected to happen this year.
Just three miles away, Vanderbilt sometimes doesn't fill up its own stadium and Boston College is a long plane ride and even longer drive for the few fans it might bring.
The general manager at the Hilton Hotel just across the river from LP Field encountered some bad news Monday when fans began calling to cancel reservations.
"We had a lot of people that had already made reservations anticipating Kentucky coming to Nashville. A lot of those reservations are being cancelled now," Ray Waters told News 2.
The Music City Bowl created a similar tune at nearby Piranha's Bar and Grill on Second Avenue.
"It was not the greatest news I have had this year. It was tough to swallow," said owner Kirk
Evans. "For the last five years we have had big schools bringing thousands and thousands of people and they are not just staying a day, they are staying four days."
Evans said he's already begun brainstorming ways to attract customers.
"I'll be online going to all the alumni Web sites for Vanderbilt, Dores to Dore, etc. inviting them out, seeing if I can get some parties and things like that," he said.
"We are going to have to scramble to do some more marketing to get the business here. We are going to have to work a little harder."
Vanderbilt executives and even Coach Bobby Johnson have called for alumni to come back for the bowl.
"Hopefully a lot of our out of town people will load up the car, get on the planes and help everyone out," Coach Johnson told News 2.
Kick-off for this year's Music City Bowl is set for 2:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, December 31.
Visit MusicCityBowl.com for complete details.
