New Group To Promote Nashville’s
Major League Soccer Bid
Expanded “MLS2Nashville” Committee Will Champion Nashville’s MLS bid and Push for Record-Breaking Attendance at July 8th CONCACAF Gold Cup match
Nashville, TN. – Top business, civic and sports leaders gathered at Nissan Stadium today to announce the launch of MLS2Nashville, a new group of over 100 Middle Tennesseans committed to bringing a Major League Soccer (MLS) to Music City.
“This is a special time for Nashville,” said Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. “I’m proud to see so many coming together to support the growth of the global game in Nashville and elevate our profile on a national and international stage.”
“A united Nashville is hard to beat,” said John R. Ingram, the lead investor for Nashville’s MLS expansion bid and majority owner of Nashville SC, the United Soccer League (USL) club set to launch in 2018. “I’m incredibly grateful to see so many folks rallying behind this effort – not only to support our push for MLS, but also to grow the game at every level.”
As part of the announcement, MLS2Nashville leaders also announced that Tennessee Titans icon Eddie George and supermodel and philanthropist Lily Aldridge will serve as honorary co-chairs.
“I’m thrilled and humbled to join Eddie as an Honorary Co-Chair of MLS2Nashville,” Aldridge said. “This initiative brings together two of my passions – my love for soccer, and my love for Nashville. I can’t wait to join with this incredible group in showcasing why Music City is Soccer City.”
MLS2Nashville represents an expansion and reorganization of the original Nashville MLS Organizing Committee founded by Will Alexander and Bill Hagerty in 2016. The group played a seminal role in launching Nashville’s pursuit of MLS, assembling corporate support for the bid, securing the July 8th Gold Cup at Nissan Stadium, and recruiting Ingram. Hagerty and Alexander will continue to serve as founders and co-chairs of MLS2Nashville.
“Nashville demonstrated unmatched community support for this bid through our initial organizing committee. We came together last year to demonstrate to the rest of the country that Nashville is indeed a major league city,” said Hagerty, who was recently nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to Japan. “The new MLS2Nashville group allows us to build a bigger tent and get even more folks involved in this unique and historic opportunity.”
MLS2Nashville consists of over 100 Middle Tennesseans who are passionate about bringing the MLS to Nashville. Members include chief executives of some the area’s largest companies, former international soccer players, and grassroots soccer fans. This group is expected to grow in size as Nashville moves closer to its ultimate goal of being an MLS city. While MLS2Nashville will replace the MLS Organizing Committee, the original members of the organizing committee—together with a few others who have made significant early contributions to Nashville’s MLS bid—will serve on a subset of MLS2Nashville called the “Founders Council.”
MLS2Nashville’s first initiative – nicknamed the “#GoldRecord” Challenge – will be an ambitious one: to break the record at the July 8th Gold Cup for the most people to ever watch a soccer game in Tennessee. The match will take place at Nissan Stadium and feature the U.S. Men’s National Team against Panama. The current attendance record is 44,835, set during the U.S. men’s national team match against Guatemala at Nissan Stadium on July 3, 2015.
“Setting a new #GoldRecord would send a powerful statement to MLS,” said Alexander. “ We know that Nashville is a great sports town that loves soccer. This is our chance to prove the strength of our market at a critical juncture in the race for MLS.”
Nashville is currently one of twelve cities competing to be one of the next four MLS expansion teams. MLS League officials are expected to announce the next two expansion teams by the end of 2017.
For more information, including discounted tickets to the Gold Cup match, please visit www.mls2nashville.com.
