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The NPSL team, Nashville FC, was founded by a supporters group that intended to form a team as a fan-owned group. Chris Jones, Nashville FC's president, cited existing fan-owned clubs as inspiration for NFC's foundation, in particular the English club F.C. United of Manchester.[8] In February 2014, the two groups merged to form a single club for the 2014 NPSL season. The club had two teams participating in the Middle Tennessee Soccer Alliance, Nashville's largest competitive adult league, and had partnered with the Tennessee State Soccer Association (TSSA), an organization with over 20,000 registered players in the Middle Tennessee area alone.[9] The team played its matches at Vanderbilt Stadium.[10] The NPSL club had ambitions of climbing the American soccer pyramid, with the reported target an entry into the then third-tier United Soccer League (USL; now known as the USL Championship) by 2017,[11] and then ascension into the Division II North American Soccer League by 2020.[8] However, in 2016, the USL awarded a franchise to a separate ownership group in Nashville. Nashville FC subsequently sold its team name, logo, and color scheme to the new USL franchise, which became known as Nashville SC, in exchange for a 1 percent equity stake in the USL team and a voting seat on its board.[12] Former 2010 MLS Cup winning coach Gary Smith was announced as the team's first manager in April 2017.[13][14] On February 10, 2018, Nashville SC competed in their first game; in preseason against Atlanta United FC.[15] In the rain-soaked contest, Nashville was defeated by Atlanta, 3–1, in front of 9,059 spectators.[16]
Expansion bid
In August 2016, a group of Nashville business leaders led by Bill Hagerty formed the Nashville MLS Organizing Committee and began efforts to secure funding for an MLS stadium.[17] The group fully supported the recently awarded USL expansion team, Nashville SC, which began play in 2018. Both groups supported each other in their common vision to grow the sport in Tennessee.[18] In October 2017, the group unveiled their plans for $275 million stadium and redevelopment project,[19][20] which was approved by the city in November.[21]
The formal bid to add an MLS franchise to Nashville began in January 2017. On March 4, 2017, businessman John Ingram, under the entity Nashville Holdings LLC, bought a majority stake in DMD Soccer, the ownership group of Nashville SC.[22] Ingram also headed up the bid to bring an MLS franchise to Nashville,[23] and the partnership between Ingram and Nashville SC was an effort to present a united front to MLS after Nashville was named one of ten finalist cities for four MLS franchises.[24]
MLS officially awarded an expansion team to Nashville on December 20, 2017, and announced that they would join the league in 2020.[25] Mike Jacobs and Ian Ayre was announced as the Nashville's first general manager and CEO respectively.[26]
MLS
Nashville SC's inaugural MLS match was February 29, 2020, with the club hosting Atlanta United FC at Nissan Stadium.[27] The game was played in front of 59,069, becoming the highest attended soccer event in Tennessee.[28]Walker Zimmerman scored the team's first goal in the 2–1 loss.[29] The inaugural season came to a halt on March 12, 2020, after only two games when the MLS suspended the season for thirty days due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[30] then extended to until May 10, 2020. On June 10, MLS announced MLS is Back Tournament, but Nashville were unable to participate in the tournament due to multiple COVID cases on the team. Their next game was an August 12 win against FC Dallas. Nashville SC finished the 2020 regular season 8–8–7 with 32 points. They entered the MLS Cup playoffs in the play-in round defeating Inter Miami 3–0 and knocking off Toronto FC 1–0 in the first round, before being defeated by the eventual champions Columbus Crew in the conference semi-finals in extra time.[31] The 2021 season saw Nashville perform well defensively, only allowing a tied for league-leading 33 goals and going undefeated at home.[32][33] The 2021 team would also tie a league record for draws in a season at 18. Nashville returned to the playoffs, but was again eliminated in the conference semi-finals, this time by Philadelphia Union in a penalty shootout.[34] 2022 saw both the opening of Geodis Park and Hany Mukhtar winning both the Landon Donovan MVP and Golden Boot awards after being a finalist for the former in the previous season.[35] Mukhtar led the league with 34 goal contributions, nearly two thirds of Nashville's goals in 2022 and leading the team to a third consecutive playoff berth.[36][37] Despite Mukhtar's success the club was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the LA Galaxy.[38]
Club crest and colors
Nashville SC's primary colors are electric gold and acoustic blue, referencing the colors of Nashville’s flag. The club's crest is a gold octagon with a monogram "N" and several vertical bars in blue. The vertical bars were chosen to represent sound waves and vibrations, referencing the city's musical history.[39][3][40]
Nashville SC's original organized supporter group is The Roadies. Established in February 2014 with the creation of Nashville FC, the city's NPSL amateur franchise with the club's transition from NPSL amateur to USL pro status and finally MLS, The Roadies similarly transitioned to maintain their support for "Our Town, Our Club".[43]
The team plays at the 30,000 seat Geodis Park, the largest soccer-specific stadium in the United States.[44][45] The $275 million stadium was mostly funded by revenue bonds from the Nashville government, per an agreement with the Nashville Metro Council that was approved in November 2017.[46] The council approved the stadium on September 4, 2018, in front of an audience with mixed opinions on the project, with the votes 31-yes and 8-no. A proposal to submit the plan to a referendum based on Metro government's "partial funding" was rejected by the council, with the votes 25-yes (to reject the referendum) and 12-no (to permit).[47]
In January 2019, John Rose, a U.S. representative from Cookeville led the nonprofit that operates the Tennessee State Fair to sue the team to halt construction, citing that the stadium would not leave adequate space required for the functions of the fair.[48] However, in February of the same year, Rose and the nonprofit dismissed the lawsuit citing that city officials would not meet with the nonprofit while this suit was pending.[49] Demolition on the Fairgrounds site began in March 2020.[50]
The agreement of the stadium and its funding details was amended on February 13, 2020, with the help of Nashville Mayor John Cooper to make the stadium 100 percent privately funded with the team will also funding $19 million of infrastructure improvements in the immediate area.[51]
Nashville, during the USL era primarily played at First Tennessee Park before switching to Nissan Stadium for their first two seasons in MLS. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were limited seating capacity in their tenure while using Nissan Stadium.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^ ab"Nashville MLS expansion team unveils name, crest". MLSSoccer.com. MLS Digital. February 20, 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020. Ingram's partners in the soccer club include Minnesota Vikings owners Mark, Zygi and Leonard Wilf, and the Turner Family, managing partners of Nashville-based MarketStreet Enterprises.
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