Today, Major League Soccer has chosen…wisely by choosing Nashville as its newest expansion team.

Nashville has shown itself to be hungry for soccer this past year. During the Gold Cup match in July of this year between the US men’s national team and their counterparts from Panama, 47,622 fans packed into Nissan Stadium, breaking the Tennessee state record for the largest crowd to attend a soccer match. This record would be broken mere weeks later in the match between Premier League giants Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, when the 56,232 soccer fans who attended smashed that record.

MLS Commissioner, Don Garber, had this to say during the press conference: “Nashville is a rising city with a passionate soccer fan base, a dedicated ownership group and civic leaders that truly believe in this sport…For us, that makes it a perfect place for MLS expansion.” Team majority owner and the leader of Nashville’s bid to win an expansion slot, John Ingram added his two cents: “This is a landmark day for Nashville and for all of the loyal and ardent soccer advocates in our state and region…We will have a team that everyone can be proud of, and we will take a leadership role in enhancing the growth of the sport in a region that already has a passionate soccer culture.”

Nashville mayor Megan Barry tweeted this after the announcement:

Soccer is often called “the beautiful game,” and this is a beautiful next step in Nashville’s growth. We are glad that @MLS can see what we see: that Music City is also a Soccer City #NashvilleMLS pic.twitter.com/2xyhyZFUOB — Megan Barry (@MayorMeganBarry) December 20, 2017

There is no official word yet on what the MLS team’s name will be, nor is there any official word on when the team will begin playing in the top flight of American soccer. The presumption is that the team will join MLS in 2020, and maybe 2019, depending on what happens with the train-wreck that’s been going on down in Miami.

This was a great day! Rejoice! It’s an awesome holiday gift from Don Garber and the rest of the league. But remember, you don’t have to wait until 2020 to see professional soccer in Music City. Nashville SC will begin playing in the United Soccer League, the second division of the American soccer pyramid, in March 2018. You can purchase season tickets here. And, the club just announced that Nashville SC season ticket holders will have the highest priority in purchasing MLS season tickets. Nashville will play a preseason game against MLS’ Atlanta United, a team that just began playing this past season, on February 10, 2018, at First Tennessee Park.