Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

A group of Nashville investors has been awarded a new expansion professional soccer franchise by the United Soccer League, a potential major first step toward soccer becoming Nashville’s next professional sport.

But Metro and the ownership team would first need to secure a plan for a stadium for the club.

Meanwhile, the North American Soccer League — which is one tier above the USL in North America's professional soccer pyramid — remains interested in Nashville.

The USL, which is two tiers below Major League Soccer, the highest level of pro soccer in the United States, has awarded a franchise to a Nashville-based ownership team that calls itself DMD Soccer.

The group consists of David Dill, president and chief operating officer of LifePoint Health; Christopher Redhage, co-founder of ProviderTrust, a health care software company, and a former pro soccer player; and Marcus Whitney, president of Jumpstart Foundry, a health care innovation fund, and chairman of Nashville FC, the city’s existing amateur team.

Their hope is to begin USL play in 2018. A club name has not been decided, nor have the owners publicly identified possible sites where they would play.

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“We are very proud and excited to welcome Nashville to the USL and look forward to a very rewarding partnership with the entire DMD Soccer team,” USL CEO Alec Papadakis said in a statement. “We have long identified Nashville as a USL destination due to its economic vibrancy, as well as its growing millennial and international populations.”

Dill, in a joint statement with the league, called the announcement “an incredible opportunity to bring professional soccer to Nashville."

“I am excited to partner with the USL and our ownership group to make this vision a reality,” he said.

The Tennessean reported last month that both the USL and the NASL were exploring Nashville as a possible expansion city.

The USL has a membership fee of $3 million for its expansion franchise.

By formally awarding Nashville a franchise, the USL has taken the inside track toward landing a new soccer team for Nashville. And yet the team must still clear several hurdles, including finding a place to play.

The 29-team USL, which has expanded rapidly since launching in 2011 with 13 franchises and is set to expand to Reno, Nev., in 2017, has a requirement that a city have a soccer-specific stadium before a new team can officially join and play starts. The league mandates an initial plan for a 5,000-seat stadium and a long-term plan for a stadium that holds 10,000.

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Mayor Megan Barry, one of several mayoral candidates who discussed the possibility of pro soccer in Nashville during last year’s mayor’s race, said in a statement that her administration supports the growing number of soccer players and fans in the city.

“The rise of soccer support in Nashville coincides with our reputation as a vibrant, welcoming city," she said. “My administration has been committed to supporting the growing number of soccer players and fans in Nashville, and the news today is another example of how our city is on the fast track to being a premier city for soccer in the Southeast.”

In a phone interview with The Tennessean, Whitney said the ongoing search for a stadium was one reason DMD Soccer decided to go public now. The group had been exploring existing soccer fields at Ted Rhodes Park as a possible site for a stadium, but withdrew plans that were set to go before the Metro Parks board last month.

Whitney declined to name sites that the group is exploring — “We are open to anything,” he said — and made clear that it would seek help from the mayor’s office on the stadium front.

“We want to work with the mayor’s office, and we’re going to let the mayor take the lead on that,” Whitney said. “The mayor just put forth a budget. There are many, many things that she and her administration are working on right now, but we are excited to have an opportunity to work with the mayor."

“Anybody who is going to bring a professional team to a city is going to partner with the mayor,” he later added. “It would just be silly not to do that. We’re excited that Mayor Barry is excited about soccer.”

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Nashville’s USL ownership team plans to hold an event for the public in mid-June to formally roll out a vision for a new team.

Soccer has become a bigger draw in Nashville as youth soccer participation in the Nashville area has picked up and the city’s immigrant population grows.

Nissan Stadium drew 44,835 people in the summer for a U.S. men's national team game against Guatemala, which was the largest crowd in Tennessee history to watch soccer. That was followed in March by the state’s largest crowd to watch women’s soccer when 25,363 saw the U.S. women's national team beat France at Nissan Stadium.

Despite the USL announcement, the NASL remains in the picture for Nashville as well.

Neal Malone, public relations director of the NASL, which has 12 teams despite being a higher tier league, said the NASL still believes Nashville would be a great fit.

Unlike the USL, the NASL, whose potential Nashville investors have not identified themselves, does not have a soccer-specific stadium requirement. Prospective investors of the NASL have scouted First Tennessee Park, home of the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball, and Nissan Stadium, where the NFL’s Tennessee Titans play. Both stadiums are owned by Metro.

The city-owned Greer Stadium, Nashville’s former minor league baseball stadium, has often been floated by observers as a possibility for either the USL or NASL. But Tommy Lynch, executive director of Metro Parks and Recreation, last year recommended that the city demolish Greer because of its dilapidated condition.

Though the stadium is the big question mark moving forward, DMD Soccer says they are eager to get moving

“The team and I are ready to work with the soccer community, city leaders and additional investors in the months ahead as our USL franchise becomes Nashville’s next great success story,” Whitney said.

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

United Soccer League

Founded in 2011

29 teams

Nearby USL teams

St. Louis

Louisville, Ky.

Charleston, S.C.

Cincinnati