NRA convention coming to Nashville

By Anita Wadhwani • The Tennessean • November 18, 2010 The National Rifle Association is coming to Nashville in May 2015 in what is expected to be the largest single convention this city has ever hosted, Mayor Karl Dean announced today. “They will come in cars they will come in planes, but they will come,” Dean told a luncheon gathering of Nashville area hoteliers at the Marriot Nashville Hotel. “It will be the biggest convention this city has ever had.” The city beat out Philadelphia, Dallas, Kansas City and Louisville for the gathering, which is expected to draw more than 50,000 convention-goers and fill between 5,000 and 6,000 hotel rooms, according to Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. They will be meeting at the still-under-construction Music City Center, stay in the not-yet-built Omni Hotel as well as other local hotels. The city is currently negotiating with the NRA to be among a rotating handful of cities who host the group’s annual conventions, Dean said. The city continues on the task of “aggressively pursuing other conventions,” Dean said