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Atlanta United fans can start to get ready for those trips to Nashville in a few years. According to a media advisory released on Tuesday morning, MLS commissioner Don Garber will be there on Wednesday for a “significant announcement about the future of soccer in Nashville”.
#BREAKING #MLS commissioner Don Garber will be in #Nashville for an announcement tomorrow afternoon. This is big for our city. @WSMV @MLS @mls2nashville pic.twitter.com/lfHw9iROmy
— Kevin Trager (@KevinWSMV) December 19, 2017
Either Garber is taking a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame with several dignitaries to explore the city’s rich music history, or what’s been thought a mere formality for a while is about to be announced: the city of Nashville will be an expansion market for MLS.
The USL will field an expansion team in Nashville SC that will begin play in the spring at First Tennessee Park. They are then scheduled to join MLS in 2020, when they will move into a brand-new soccer-specific stadium near the city’s fairgrounds.
This is obviously big news for soccer in the South. After having zero MLS teams in the region as recently as a year ago, it will call two clubs home by 2020.
Will Nashville SC supplant Orlando City SC as a rival for Atlanta United, or will Orlando always be the club’s chief rival in your eyes? Let us know in the comments.