The largest waste of Tennessee taxpayer dollars last year was the state’s $10 million in eligible tax incentives for the television show 9-1-1: Nashville, a new watchdog report shows.
The findings come from the Beacon Center of Tennessee’s 2025 Pork Report, which highlights what it calls the most egregious examples of government spending at the state and local level.
According to the report, Tennessee’s $10 million pledge to the TV drama, which began filming in Nashville last summer, is reportedly more than any other show filmed in the state has ever received, despite what the Beacon Center cites as evidence that film incentive programs deliver little to no long-term economic return for taxpayers.
The Tennessee Entertainment Commission reported in December 2025 that the production of 9-1-1: Nashville has created over 600 jobs and generated an estimated $50 million in economic impact for the state.
The series, however, carries an IMDb rating of 5.3/10 and, as noted by the Beacon Center, a similar 9-1-1 spinoff based in Texas, which boasted a much higher rating, was canceled last year.
“With riveting scenes like “bachelorettes bleeding all over Broadway” and “kites picking up children at the Parthenon,” the only thing serious about this drama is Tennessee tax dollars going up in smoke,” the Beacon Center’s Pork Report reads.
“Instead of funding a fictional emergency crew, tax dollars could be better spent supporting real-life first responders, who actually live in Tennessee. But it seems the state would rather pay millions for “action” while real first responders don’t get a ‘cut,’” the report adds.
The state’s $10 million allocation for the TV series was voted “Pork of the Year” by Tennessee voters, according to the Beacon Center’s January poll released Monday.
The Pork Report places the state incentives for the TV drama alongside other wasteful state-level spending decisions, including the state’s deal with Ford Motor Company for its Blue Oval City project in West Tennessee.
Tennessee has committed nearly $1 billion in incentives to Ford, in addition to more than $189 million spent preparing the megasite before the automaker arrived.
In December 2025, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star, Ford announced its fourth production delay since the project was unveiled, pushing the start date to 2029 and abandoning plans to build electric vehicles in favor of gas-powered trucks.
“Tennessee leaders should stop trying to jump-start private investment with tax dollars and instead make Tennessee the most welcoming and easiest place to live, work, and raise a family. That would benefit all Tennesseans, not simply corporations,” the Pork Report suggests.
Finally, the report flags spending approved by Memphis city leaders, who allocated $30 million in bond debt to purchase the aging Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel for $22 million.
Noting the hotel is outdated and in need of major repairs, the Beacon Center emphasizes that the deal immediately added tens of millions of dollars to the city’s debt load.
While officials say a third-party developer will handle the renovations and “incur the risk,” the Beacon Center says taxpayers have already assumed substantial financial risk simply by financing the acquisition.
The Pork Report argues that if the Sheraton were a sound investment, a private developer would have taken on the project without taxpayer backing.
“Instead, Memphis leaders decided taxpayers were the concierge service for a failing hotel in need of renovations, forcing residents to play the role of involuntary venture capitalists,” the report says.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Tennessee Capitol” by Adam Jones. CC BY-SA 2.0.
