Score! MLS Officially Adds Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN -- Nashville will become America's 21st three-sports city, as Major League Soccer announced Wednesday that the Music City will become the league's 24th team.

Though all indications before Wednesday were that Nashville would join the league in 2020, Commissioner Don Garber indicated that wasn’t necessarily firm and the as-yet-unnamed team could join the league earlier.

Flanked by Metro Mayor Megan Barry, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and the team's lead owner John Ingram, Tennessee Titans legend Eddie George, Garber made Nashville's membership official at a press event at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

"It's incredible how far we've come in this city," Garber said. "Nashville was not on our radar screen (18 months ago), but ... as we started to learn more, we became intrigued by this city. ... There's no doubt that Nashville is a city on the rise."

Garber praised Ingram for his commitment to bringing the team, as he spearheaded an effort and brought on other deep-pocketed investors, including the Turner family of Dollar General and MarketStreet Enterprises fame and the Wilfs, the owners of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings.

Garber said the league's attention was particularly piqued by high attendance at U.S. Men's National Team games and at a special match between English Premier League sides Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Those games combined to draw more than 100,000 people.

"Damn right we accept, by the way," Ingram said. "We are a city that works together and that thinks big."

Nashville began the process more than year ago as a longshot, but the then-odds-on favorites - such as St. Louis - ran into road bumps as would-be owners and local governments came to loggerheads in getting stadiums funded and built. Nashville and the Ingram-led group, on the other hand, had a relatively smooth negotiation to get the funding squared away for a $250 million stadium at the Fairgrounds Nashville, including $225 million in government-backed bonds. Garber said the league is "convinced" the stadium will become a key gathering place for the city in the future.

"There is an energy that is contagious, there is a youthfulness to this city...that makes no questions to why Major League Soccer is here today," former U.S. Men's National Team player and ESPN MLS commentator Taylor Twellman said.

Ingram did not address the future of Nashville SC, set to begin play in the second-level United Soccer League next year, though he did acknowledge the team's efforts. The MLS encourages its member franchises to have lower-league affiliates and they do in some cases play in the same town. For example, Sporting KC's affiliate Swope Park FC also plays in the Paris of the Prairies.

Image via MLS2Nashville