What do the Olympic Village in Vancouver, the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and soccer stadium Geodis Park in Nashville all have in common?

Sports — yes — but, also, they all had community benefits agreements.

These agreements, known as CBAs, are legally binding contracts between corporations and neighboring residents promising tangible benefits to a community. Following the Geodis Park CBA, some Tennesseans now want another, with Ford Motors. But, earlier this year, state lawmakers curbed such agreements.

As fans flood Nashville’s Geodis Park, Marini Facey directs attendees to their seats. Facey works at three different stadiums around Nashville, but says that Geodis is her favorite, citing the staff culture, hiring process and pay.

“At the end of the day, yes, a higher wage is very helpful,” Facey said. “It kind of has been like a cushion almost.”

Facey’s wage is protected under a community benefits agreement established before the stadium was built. 

There’s no exact blueprint for a CBA, but the soccer club’s agreement featured hiring and wage requirements; the development of affordable housing and retail space; and an on-site child care facility.

Signed back in 2018, this was Tennessee’s first-ever CBA.

But this year, state lawmakers banned such agreements for corporations that will receive state economic incentives going forward. They said they wanted to protect the job and economic growth that comes with companies moving to the state, and feared the requirements of community benefits agreements could derail this.

In Tennessee, many major companies have gotten state dollars. There’s Oracle, General Motors, FedEx.

And, more recently, there’s Ford, developing a $5.6 billion mega-campus, BlueOval City, that will manufacture electric trucks and batteries.

State Senator Page Walley represents the region around Ford’s new plant. He spoke at a legislative hearing earlier this year.

“In my part of rural West Tennessee where the Ford Motor Company is expanding, they have been extraordinarily active in engaging with communities to build parks, to expand the Boys and Girls Clubs, vitalize neighborhoods, to prepare workforces,” Walley said. “But they’re doing it all voluntarily.”

Walley supported the ban on CBAs, saying that Ford is already doing good work in the community. 

But that opinion is at odds with many residents. A coalition of labor and faith leaders came together to form the group “Blue Oval Good Neighbors.” They’ve been urging Ford to commit to a community benefits agreement since long before the ban was passed.  

“I think many times people believe that in small towns, people will just accept chump change or crumbs,” Rachel Wilson, a member of the coalition, said.

Wilson said Ford has received close to a billion in state incentives: “And they're investing back less than 1% back into the community,” Wilson said. “And so, for Ford to address all that we are concerned about, it will take more dollars.”

The group is asking for an agreement that would ensure local hiring, provide “replacement land” to Black farmers who had to sell through eminent domain, and protect their water sources.

Despite the new law, Ford could still sign a CBA — they received state incentives before the law went into effect.

Instead, Ford has launched its “Good Neighbor Plan” — a pledged $9 million investment in the community. But Wilson says without a legally binding deal, the commitment lacks accountability.

In a statement, Ford says it welcomes ideas from residents but is unable to “engage with every third-party group that purports to speak on behalf of residents.” 

So, it could be a long road ahead. Ford’s campus is being built whether or not a community benefits agreement is signed. But that doesn’t mean residents will stop trying to secure one.