Kenny Chesney’s love for Tennessee football, CFP expansion & his legacy ⭐️ | SportsCenter

told you it got cooler in here it did get a locked but the aura Has Lifted penny chest's in the building what's up fellas multiplatinum listen if you're in New York get yourself to the show MetLife Stadium one of us is going to be there no big deal on Saturday and then three straight shows next week in the Boston area in Foxboro I usually close it out want to get to that do want to start though with Where Your Story begins down in Tennessee what is what does Tennessee football mean to you well it's it's all we grew up on you know we we as a I lived I feel very fortunate to have lived in a in a community in an area of the country where you know football and sports and family and church and that that kind of stuff was all we had and we didn't have any pro allegiance to anybody cuz we didn't have Pro Sports it was all Tennessee football sure and it's still That Way Knoxville baby hey it was just a couple years ago man that we saw the scene them rush in nean stadium after finally beating Bama in your crib starting the season ranked 15 all right we'll see what coach hyp has to do what is your outlook what is your um take on the playoff field expanding to 12 teams well I think first of all I think they're going to be pretty good their schedule's definitely in their favor you know so um but my take on it is I'm still going to watch it of course I don't I don't care how many teams are in it you know I think it's exciting I think that um there was always an argument okay number whoever was number five or six sure I was was very frustrated and upset yeah it's going to be the same way whoever is 13 and 14 you know so which is why I had to preface the pre season rank of them being 15 only 12 in so they got some work to do little bit little bit of ground to make up but that was you know the the argument against expanding the playoff was oh no it devalues the regular season and I think you just have to go to one game there to realize how valuable the season is you've played there right growing up in the shadow of it and and and played there back in 03 what was that what was that like for you look I used to set well on this side um and I know where is such in Double K with my father and my friend Jim cogal and if you would have told me when I was a child sitting in that football stadium that I was going to play it one day and then you know and to see what's happened to us after that I would have told you you were crazy you know but that that you know Tennessee football was a huge part of of the way I grew up and and my love of sports of course I got that from my father you know my father was a coach and and um I got the music from my mom I got my love of sports from my dad you you know why he loves sports you can tell Kenny chesne loves sports cuz he decided willingly to wake up at 7:00 in the morning we played last night in main you were in main last night we played last night in Bangor M oh my Lord and you're event life tomorrow dedication Met Life Stadium tomorrow night in New York and then we end the tour next weekend with uh three days in Gillette there are so many sports stadiums on this tour I'm curious your your favorite non-nan Stadium to play is is what well the ones that are aren't built to maximize sweets you know what I mean like U so the older stadiums are louder okay like William was bright down in columia like that place or you know Pittsburgh is really loud uh Arad is really loud Seattle is really loud um pretty the new ones I I love playing them but you almost feel like they don't have a HomeField Advantage cuz the sound's not the same you play in front of hundreds of thousands at these at these concerts and it's a who's who of a-listers walking in obviously Sports royalty you've already you know hosted Dabo you've had Mike McCarthy you obviously the relationship with Robert Craft when they come to one of your shows is it like hey they get to meet Kenny Chesney or is it hey Kenny spending some time with Dabo today or whatever well it's there's just such a mutual respect you know because honestly it I think it's it's kind of across the board I've been doing this for several years now and I've met a lot of athletes coaches we do that every Friday night before our Saturday show but it it just you know all every musician if you ask them would love to play professional sports and almost every professional uh baseball player a football player a basketball player that I've met would give anything to do what we do so when they're at a show it's just it's there there's just a level of mutual respect you know what I think of of you and and covering High School football as we both did earlier in our our careers that boys a fall song is an Anthem I mean it is an Anthem and it I think of you in a football uniform I know you played yeah it's an interesting thing to see me in a football uniform well I mean we see it up here but but listen like you know you can go certain height certain weight it's you know what's what's in here to get out after but I'm I'm I'm curious like how your legacy as you're living it like you see folks who watch you at shows in the mid 90s yeah hand in the air I saw you FedEx Field George Straight Country Music Festival 2000 wow right long I'm going to go see you tomorrow I mean we're talking 24 years I've had I've had three kids in that span I could bring one of my kids to your shows generationally as you have been the guy up on stage watching this play out what's that what's that like for you it's insane it really is I mean I still I love what I do I I you know I I know it's a gift I uh to be creative in your life and to give the world something that didn't exist yesterday you know and so that's that's the one of that's the one of the beauties of being a songwriter and being the person up on stage that gets to to play those songs for people it's the most amazing feeling in the world you know and so and to do it like like we've been doing it for a while is is is like I said it's just a gift and I'm I'm very grateful for it and but you know I I've got four guys that I went to high school with that are out on the road with me now that I went to high school we to college that's awesome and we watched a lot of football growing up yeah and to be able to play the places you know like we're so excited to when we played the rose bow in 2015 we were so excited and we just kind of we all of us went to the very last row like you saw at Arrowhead with me we do that every Friday night so it was really interesting to play The Rose bow and sit up there with your dad and some of his buddies and my friends because it meant so much cuz we went to the top of the stadium theay Friday Night Before Our Saturday show and just sat there for those who might not be familiar what's the connective tissue obviously Knoxville that's home um what's the connective tissue with Boston cuz it seems like some of your biggest and best shows are at Foxboro two three nights right Joe Milton Tennessee quarterback now now he's on the roster Boston one of my favorite songs come to Boston comeon what's that tissue well it started um honestly when I was a kid there was a guy that played at Tennessee that got drafted a wide receiver named St Morgan I don't know if you guys remember the name or not but I I loved him and and he that's where I first started paying attention to the Patriots cuz he got he he play for the Patriots and um when I was a kid I always you know I I know you guys remember cuz we didn't have all we didn't have sports center then we didn't have all the the channels and the ways to uh consume Sports so we had what we had in East Tennessee and there was a show every Saturday called this week in baseball with Joe garola and every I I love that show and and they they usually had the Red Sox on after that they were really good during that time so the networks played you know who was good yeah and so that's where I I became a Red Sox fan and then later in life I I my you know with my time in the Virgin Islands almost nine out of 10 people that I met down there were from New England yeah and so it just became a thing over the years and and and because I played Sports I'm very superstitious so there was a year like you were talking about Raymond James Stadium in Tampa when I saw guden down there like the the first year that I opened my tour in Tampa we closed it that year in Foxboro and it was one of the most amazing uh experiences the whole tour was just awesome and because I'm so superstitious I said we're doing that every year we're opening in Tampa we're closing in Foxboro and that's the way we've done it ever since and that's the time he mentions the time in the Virgin Islands you get out of the New England weather correct are smart enough to get the heck out of here and get down there will you stick around for us I know you got a weekend show metti Stadium sun goes down tour again I don't think there are tickets but there's no bad seat in the building