NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The history of the NFL in Nashville goes back a few decades — from the late 1990s, when the stadium was first being built for the Titans, the Music City Miracle, and 2019 when the city hosted the NFL Draft.
Eric Hilt covered the draft that year for NewsChannel 5, going around interviewing fans on Broadway.
"Oh, this means everything. It shows you what kind of a town Nashville is and what we can do here," said one fan in 2019. "Maybe one day we can have the Super Bowl here or whatnot, but it's pretty awesome."
That fan was Sam Watts.
Did he call it? Some may say he did, now that Nashville will host the Super Bowl in 2030.
Regardless of whether he actually predicted it, or if it was a coincidence that his in the moment comment came true, it's an interview he has kept in his phone for years.
Hilt even thought that might have been a stretch at the time. Now, there's no surprise.
But Watts never forgot that moment. What Watts didn't know was what ever happened to that reporter.
"I have no idea," he said. "I've even looked back on videos and photos and don't know who that is."
Even I thought: how cool would it be if we could reconnect these two so they could talk about this interview seven years later?
So we did.
To see the moment Sam and Eric reunite, watch the video in the player above.
"You called it!" Hilt said.
"I don't know if I called it, but we are going to have a Super Bowl just down the street from here, so that was a lot of fun to do," Watts said.
Hilt noted that Watts holding onto the video all these years made the moment possible.
"It's great that you held onto the video too for all these years because without that, you wouldn't be able to prove to people that you called it," Hilt said.
Watts laughed off the idea that he deserves too much credit.
"If I was in your shoes, and someone said, 'Hey, who knows, the Super Bowl might come to Nashville some day,' I'd be like, yeah, okay, sure and pigs may fly, you know what I mean!?" Watts said.
As for what comes next, Watts is already looking ahead — even if it means getting ahead of himself again.
"Who knows, the Titans might be in it in a couple of years and even that seems like a far-fetched idea, so you can tell me I'm crazy about that, you know?" Watts said.
Will we need to talk to Sam again in 2030?
Stay tuned.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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