Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber got the full Music City treatment during his two-day swing through Nashville as the city's top boosters set out to convince him an MLS expansion franchise would thrive here.

It began with lunch at the popular restaurant Husk after arriving Friday. It was then off to The Nashville Fairgrounds — the city-owned site targeted for a soccer stadium. Along the way, he got to see the rapidly developing Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, which he learned is now also called "We-Ho."

From there, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam hosted the commissioner at the Governor's Mansion for dinner. There was an evening reception hosted by the Nashville MLS Steering Committee. And Garber ended his evening on — where else? — Lower Broadway.

Garber, who also attended Saturday's Gold Cup matches at Nissan Stadium, has liked what he's seen from Nashville since it submitted its application in January.

In short time, Nashville — whose bid for an MLS expansion team is led by prominent businessman John Ingram — has gone from an "underdog" for a Major League Soccer team to "pretty high on the list," according to Garber.

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He calls Nashville a place with a "can-do attitude."

"It comes together around big ideas, which is something that I find really inspiring because that's not what happens in a lot of cities across the country," he said.

Twelves cities, including Nashville, are vying for four spots the league wants to fill. MLS plans to name the first two cities in December. Ingram is in talks with Mayor Megan Barry's administration about a public-private deal to finance a soccer stadium.

Garber sat down with The Tennessean on Saturday to discuss Nashville's bid and prospects to land a team. (In some cases, answers are abbreviated.)

Tennessean: You've said that Nashville went from an afterthought not long ago to "pretty high on the list" of potential expansion cities. What's changed?

Garber: We started spending more time with John Ingram and more time with (Ingram's partners) Bill (Hagerty) and Will Alexander, and just getting to know them more. There are many markets of the current 12 that have been around for years. Sacramento has been trying to get into MLS for years and years. (Nashville) is just so new. What's changed really is us getting to know the ownership group more, getting a better understanding of a stadium plan.

Parallel to that is public support. As you know, it's hard to get public-private partnerships and build big projects in any city in America. We started getting more connected to contacts at the political level and getting a sense of this partnership between the public and private sector that makes Nashville great. We started doing a little more research on what their plan is, how they've developed big projects, how the convention center got built.

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And then all of a sudden the Predators' (Stanley Cup Final run) happened. That had the whole sports industry and the whole country looking at the city and looking at their support for a hockey team.

Tennessean: As you note, Nashville has a recent history of getting approval for big city projects — Music City Center, stadiums for the Predators and Tennessee Titans. With other MLS expansion contenders, such as St. Louis, San Diego and Charlotte, N.C., facing setbacks in getting MLS stadiums approved, does that provide an opening for Nashville that didn't previously exist?

Garber: I think the answer's yes. You said that right. That's true. I think there is an opportunity for Nashville to rise higher on the list because there appears to be a more streamlined process to have the third leg of the stool (needed to get an expansion team), which is the stadium.

Tennessean: What about Nashville as a city excites and intrigues you as a potential expansion city?

Garber: It's just really energized. It's just an exciting, youthful market that seems to have found a lot of different groups to come together and just believe in their city. One of the things that really just popped out to me over the last day, speaking to a lot of businesses that have moved here, is that one of the things that attracted them most to the city is that it's just a good place to live. People are friendly. It's got a can-do attitude at all levels. There's a lot of things going on. There's a lot of culture. There's a lot of creativity. Those things excite us. We think of our league in the same way. We're a league that is trying to create something in professional sports, being the last one in. We want to be in cities that have new energized dynamics so that it can be part of what we offer as we try to build a soccer nation in our country.

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Tennessean: Does Nashville's lack of a professional sports team that is currently playing — unlike other cities in contention — hurt its chances to be awarded a team in December? Nashville has a United Soccer League franchise, Nashville Soccer Club, but it doesn't begin play until 2018.

Garber: I can't answer it as it relates to timing, but what I will say is that clearly over the last number of years, there has been a lot of development and success at the lower divisions, and they seem to get this enormous viral energy to sort of elevate up to Major League Soccer. You can see that with Sacramento, which has been a very promising candidate for a while, and you can see it in what we did in Portland or Vancouver, or Orlando, which is probably the best example. But that doesn't mean it's the only way to go.

There isn't a singular path to success, I think, in any league, but certainly in MLS. So the fact that (Nashville) doesn't have a USL team yet with 20,000 fans a game doesn't hurt them. I do believe that the decision for the Ingram family and the group to buy the USL team, Nashville SC, was really smart.

Tennessean: To get approved in December, I assume Ingram and his group will need to have stadium plans solidified before then?

Garber: Yes.

Tennessean: Some people have asked why an MLS team in Nashville couldn't just play at Nissan Stadium, home of the Titans. Why is MLS not interested in approving teams right now that would play in NFL stadiums?

Garber: What's most important is that the (team) owner own and control the venue. So in Atlanta, for example, we'll be playing in Mercedes Benz Stadium because Arthur Blank owns and controls the venue. That provides us with the opportunity to schedule, manage operations and not be in conflict with the primary tenant. The ownership group for the Titans are not part of the ownership group interested in Major League Soccer from an investment perspective. Which is fine. It just means that we don't want to be a tenant in their stadium.

Tennessean: You toured Nashville's fairgrounds yesterday. Do you think a stadium can work there? It's close to downtown, but not in downtown.

Garber: We got out of the car and maybe spent 30 minutes there. So we haven't gone through a detailed analysis. We'll go through that with the group over the next couple of weeks, but I certainly think a stadium could work there.

Tennessean: If you stack up the 12 cities in play for a team, Nashville has the smallest market. Would MLS be taking a risk if it were to pick Nashville, or does it compensate for that in other ways?

Garber: Market size is definitely a factor that needs to be considered. But the NFL has got a team (in Nashville), and it has for many years, and you had an NHL team in the Stanley Cup here in Nashville. And they had terrific television ratings. Market sizes matters because it can help, logically, grow your national television audience. But success in markets and engaged owners and a passionate fan base are probably more important than market size. You also have to look at growth. It's important to go to growing cities. And growth isn't just about population size — it's about, what's the vision for the city? Where do they want to be?

There just seems to be a desire to take this city and just make it bigger and more international and to provide value to the people who live here. It's part of why there's such a disparate group of people to come together to try to bring MLS here.

Tennessean: How significant was the Predators' playoff run — the enthusiasm of the city that surrounded — to Nashville's MLS chances?

Garber: I think it's one of the great recent success stories in the sports industry. The industry is very connected. And we want to see great stories, whether it's in the NFL, the NHL, NBA, MLB. I like seeing success. We saw that here in Nashville with the crowds outside the stadium and just the civic pride around a sports team.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.