Vanderbilt Football Will Remain On Campus

For months, rumors had been swirling that the Vanderbilt Commodores’ football team would move off campus to an as-yet unbuilt stadium at the Fairgrounds, to be shared with an expansion MLS franchise.

That appears to be over. Vanderbilt announced that the football team would remain at on-campus Vanderbilt Stadium for the foreseeable future in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

While no specific reasons were given for the decision, certainly fan backlash must have played a role in what many thought was a done deal as recently as a month ago. Vanderbilt, in its statement, did leave open the possibility of playing games at a new MLS stadium in the future, but Vanderbilt Stadium will remain its primary home.

What’s not clear is whether Vanderbilt Stadium will remain as is, or if the university plans to do significant renovations on the facility. The last major update to the facility came in 1981.