Members of the Nashville MLS Steering Committee, including prominent businessman John Ingram, announced Thursday the formation of the MLS2Nashville Committee, a community initiative to support the city’s bid for a Major League Soccer expansion team.

In addition to steering committee co-founders Bill Hagerty and Will Alexander, a pair of local celebrities — former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George and Nashville-based model Lily Aldridge — will serve as honorary co-chairs on the MLS2Nashville Committee.

“When Will asked me if I wanted to be an honorary chair for the MLS2Nashville (Committee) I was over the moon,” said Aldridge, who played soccer for 11 years growing up. “We like people to come from out of town and enjoy this incredible city, and I think that soccer coming to Nashville will be just one more incredible thing that brings this city together that we can cheer for and stand behind."

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Alexander also announced the newly-formed committee’s lofty attendance goal for this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup match between the United States and Panama on July 8.

“We want the Gold Cup to be the best attended soccer game in the history of the state of Tennessee,” Alexander said. “We call this the Gold Record Challenge and we think the city is up for it.”

The 2015 U.S.-Guatamala match, which had an attendance of 44,835, holds the record for the highest-attended soccer game in Tennessee history.

“I have to really give a shout out to Will Alexander and Bill Hagerty because they got this ball rolling and they have started something that’s really remarkable,” Ingram said. “I love that we’ve found a way to build and expand the committee to include so many more folks.”

Ingram recently became majority owner of the city’s lower-league team, Nashville SC, aligning Nashville’s MLS bid with its United Soccer League team thus strengthening Nashville’s candidacy for one of four MLS expansion spots.

MLS is expected to announce the first wave of two expansion cities this year.

A dozen cities, including Nashville, are in play for MLS. Others are San Antonio, San Diego, Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Raleigh/Durham, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Sacramento, Calif., Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., Phoenix and Indianapolis.

In addition to the Gold Cup match on July 8, Nissan Stadium will also play host to an International Champions Cup match between English Premier League powers Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City on July 29.

Reach Michael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-259-8262 and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports.