The main event was Tuesday’s United States-Mexico friendly at Nissan Stadium — the latest opportunity for Nashville to showcase its soccer devotion and make its case for FIFA World Cup games in 2026 — but serious action took place a night earlier at the governor’s residence.

“Aggressively touting the benefits” of Nashville as a host city is the way Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber described city and state officials who showed up at a gathering put on by Gov. Bill Haslam. The guests included Carlos Cordeiro, president of the United States Soccer Federation. He recommended the 17 cities that FIFA is considering for an expected 10 spots, and FIFA no doubt has his phone number as it whittles the list over the next couple of years.

So yeah, Butch Spyridon was pumped to do some aggressive touting Monday night. Or as the CEO of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. put it before heading to the governor’s mansion: “I’m going to start talking and won’t stop until they shove me aside.”

Making the case for Music City

Presumably, then, Nashville should be closer to hosting the biggest sporting event in the world today than it was yesterday. This even though the crowd for Tuesday’s game, 40,194, was not an overwhelming turnout. It did exceed what Garber and Spyridon said they expected (about 35,000) for this weeknight exhibition.

Nashville made a bigger statement when 47,622 showed up at Nissan for a CONCACAF Gold Cup match between the United States and Panama on July 8, 2017 — a game that counted, played in the summer. Then a new record of 56,232 was set for a game between English Premier League rivals Manchester City and Tottenham.

Another Gold Cup opportunity comes next summer. That will count, too, toward a World Cup decision that is scheduled to be made in late 2020. As will the progress and embrace of MLS in Nashville, which is back on track after the $275 million stadium deal at the fairgrounds was threatened. As will the future of Nissan Stadium.

Sticking with Nissan Stadium

Amid this city’s soccer craze, we have more clarity on what American football will look like in the future. And the answer is, very similar, with upgrades planned for Nissan Stadium and no apparent desire for a new stadium. This will disappoint folks who envisioned a state-of-the-art dome that could attract a Super Bowl, a Final Four, a College Football Playoff game.

It’s good news for those who love the outdoor atmosphere and location of Nissan. It’s sensible news because, frankly, I don’t see how there’d be enough taxpayer support here for the kind of wallet hit a brand-new stadium would require. Nashville Mayor David Briley told The Tennessean's Joey Garrison that the Titans recently told him they “definitively don’t want a new stadium.”

The Titans released a statement Tuesday that said, in part: “With over 10 years still remaining in the original lease for Nissan Stadium, we believe the correct course of action is to keep modernizing and improving the existing building, which is the approach we have taken since the building debuted in 1999.”

Plenty of competition for 2026

If there’s a plan in place by 2020 for significant improvements to be completed by 2026, that could help. Briley said he believes FIFA’s decisions will have “a lot to do with the facilities” in the respective cities.

New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington, San Francisco and Boston seem like no-brainers to host World Cup games. That would leave Nashville, Philadelphia, Miami, Seattle, Houston, Orlando, Kansas City, Denver, Baltimore and Cincinnati to scrap for an expected three spots — assuming Canada and Mexico each end up with three host cities as planned.

“In my opinion, we’re all auditioning continuously,” Spyridon said. “I’d put our chances right now around 50/50. I feel good about it.”

Nashville MLS CEO Ian Ayre said Tuesday he believes the “experience around the games” is a lure for World Cup organizers and could serve as a Nashville advantage.

“One thing that helped us with the Gold Cup, we used Kings of Leon to push it,” Spyridon said of the popular Nashville rock band. “That ability to tap star power to promote events has resonated with U.S. Soccer, with Soccer United Marketing and with the NFL. They’ve all seen how we can talk to different audiences in a pretty impactful way. Because they know they can talk to soccer fans, but if they can reach a different audience, that’s what they want.”

The soccer audience on a cool Tuesday night in Nashville was rocking by 8:10 p.m. kickoff. It was easy to envision the same city, eight years from now, housing an updated venue with butts in every seat for the most important games the sport has to offer.

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.