Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

The United Soccer League has taken the lead in the quest to bring professional soccer to Nashville, but separate talks for a new Nashville franchise in a higher-tier league are still very much alive.

And the investor group for the latter effort — a club in the North American Soccer League — is led by a Tennessee political and business heavyweight with deep pockets: Former Tennessee Economic and Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty.

Ultimately, which league gets a team could come down to which group of investors has a stadium financing plan that Mayor Megan Barry’s administration finds more desirable. Barry's recently proposed capital improvement budget includes $50 million in proposed revenue bonds for a new municipal soccer facility.

This doesn't represent a formal funding proposal, but serves as a placeholder for possible consideration next year for a soccer stadium paid for with city assistance.

Hagerty, in a statement after The Tennessean reported Thursday that a separate group of Nashville investors was awarded a franchise by the United Soccer League, said he’s in discussions about creating an ownership group to bring “a high-level professional soccer team” to Nashville.

“Nashville has reached the point as a sports market where it is ready to support a high-level professional soccer team,” Hagerty said. “We are engaged in discussions to create an ownership group to bring top-tier professional soccer to Nashville. I look forward to an ongoing discussion about what is best for Nashville and its professional sports future.”

Nashville awarded United Soccer League franchise

According to a source familiar with those discussions, Hagerty and other possible investors are in talks with the North American Soccer League about a new team launching in Nashville. The source said the Hagerty-led group of partners has explored the necessary steps and “engaged in due diligence” to bring an NASL team to Nashville.

Nashville is in play for a team in only one of the leagues, not both. But both soccer leagues have catapulted other cities into consideration for a Major League Soccer club, the highest level of professional soccer in North America.

The mayor’s office says they remain open to working with owners from either league — though for now, USL is the only league that has awarded Nashville a franchise.

“The mayor supports the growth of soccer in Nashville and is supportive of all groups that want to bring a team here,” Barry spokesman Sean Braisted said. “It will ultimately be up to the private sector to bring their proposals to Metro. The United Soccer League is clearly moving in that direction, and we’ll see over time if there are others interested in coming to Nashville.”

Braisted said the administration added the soccer stadium to the 2016-17 capital budget "due to speculation about the possibility of pro soccer coming to Nashville." He said no commitments have been made to either league. The Metro Council will vote on the budget later this spring, but a subsequent vote on a stadium would be required later.

The NASL, which has 12 clubs compared to 29 in the USL, is considered the second tier in North America's professional soccer pyramid, immediately below MLS.

Nashville in play for pro soccer expansion team

NASL is one tier higher than the USL, which has been expanding at a breakneck pace from 13 clubs in 2011 to 29 today. Several USL teams have minor league affiliations with MLS teams.

The Tennessean reported last month that Metro Sports Authority Director Monica Fawknotson provided tours of First Tennessee Park, home of the minor league baseball Nashville Sounds, and Nissan Stadium, to interested NASL investors. The USL requires a soccer-specific stadium, but the NASL does not.

Hagerty served as Gov. Bill Haslam’s economic development commissioner from 2011 to 2014. He previously worked in a domestic policy role in President George H.W. Bush’s administration and returned last year to the private equity investment firm Hagerty Peterson LLC, which he founded.

Hagerty also worked at Trident Capital L.P., a private equity investment firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, and The Boston Consulting Group, an international management consultancy.

The USL investor team in Nashville, which calls itself DMD Soccer, consists of David Dill, president and chief operating officer of LifePoint Health; Christopher Redhage, co-founder of ProviderTrust, a health care software company; and Marcus Whitney, president of Jumpstart Foundry, a health care innovation fund, and chairman of Nashville FC, the city’s existing amateur team.

In getting awarded a franchise, DMD Soccer is a clear step ahead right now of the NASL investor group led by Hagerty.

MLS, which has teams in 20 cities, is in the midst of major expansion in the coming years, with plans to jump to 24 teams by 2018 and a goal to expand to 28 teams, perhaps by 2020.

But Nashville might need to use either the USL or NASL as a springboard to enter the MLS further down the road.

FC Cincinnati CEO: Cincinnati has 'authentic soccer movement'

That’s because MLS commissioner Don Garber did not mention Nashville last month as one of the cities that the MLS has had talks with for future expansion. Instead, possible cities for MLS’ next round of expansion are Sacramento, San Diego, St. Louis, Detroit, San Antonio, Austin and Cincinnati.

The NASL was recently a springboard for a new MLS franchise in Minneapolis, which is playing its final year in the NASL this year as a new MLS stadium gets completed.

But USL has opened up MLS opportunities as well.

Cincinnati, Sacramento, St. Louis and San Antonio each have soccer teams currently in the USL. Meanwhile, San Diego and Detroit have National Premier Soccer League teams — the same level as Nashville FC, the city’s amateur team — but both are larger markets than Nashville.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.