photo: Todd Bilbrey

When the Nashville Metros unceremoniously disappeared in the late winter of 2013, the news was met with the slight lament of a person who breaks a shoelace. And that was from those who even remembered that Music City was home to one of the longest-lived franchises in the American soccer pyramid.

The combined "Oh? Hmmm ... " from that dozen or so people was drowned out by the overwhelming "The who?" from everyone else.

The Metros survived in Nashville for three decades by some amalgamation of sheer force of will and inertia. The team drew crowds that were at best OK, fueled by giveaways to youth soccer leagues, a growing immigrant population and, one suspects, people who stumbled onto their games by accident.

The Metros toiled for years in the mid-level of the U.S. soccer structure, their roster populated by a casserole of former local high school and college players and foreign players from whichever country the front office had connections to (including such soccer powers as Belize or Armenia and a clutch of small West African countries). Any traction came, as traction in American soccer does, from post-World Cup excitement, but the team was more survivor than success.

Nevertheless, the disappearance left a vacuum for soccer-loving locals who suddenly found themselves with an opportunity to craft a club of their own creation.

And what's emerged is sui generis in American soccer.

Nashville FC, which began play last season in the National Premier Soccer League — the fourth level of the American soccer pyramid — is supporter-owned. The club has members who pay dues, which fund the club's operation. It's a not-unusual model in Europe. In England, after Wimbledon FC moved to the fake city of Milton Keynes, spurned supporters started AFC Wimbledon. Manchester United fans who didn't care for the club's sale to the late Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, started FC United of Manchester. It's extraordinarily common in Germany and other countries on the Continent.

But in the U.S.? The only real analog is the Green Bay Packers.

Nashville FC drew 2,000 or so fans to Vandy's intramural fields last season. Not a number that will put any shivers in the Tennessee Titans' taxpayer-funded cleats, but one that's worthy of notice, since the team was able to pull it off on a shoestring budget with virtually no press coverage.

Membership in the club grew to 850 or so during the offseason, and the team was able to negotiate a deal to play on the turf at Dudley Field. The club has a no-joke shirt sponsor in petroleum distributor Delek, whose name adorns the front of a sharp-looking new jersey. Its classic look screams that Nashville FC means business.

And indeed it does. The team's ambitious goal: promotion to the A-League (that's the tier of soccer just below MLS) within five years.

They've already rebuffed outside challenges. Nearly two years to the day after the Metros folded, it was reported that a team out of Harrisburg, Pa., was sniffing around Nashville, looking to relocate to now-vacant Greer Stadium. Nashville FC raised a stink, and nary a word's been heard out of those Keystone State interlopers since.

On Saturday, the team hosted the Birmingham Hammers in a friendly, drawing a solid 1,500 to Vanderbilt Stadium. After a surprise run to the league semis last year, Nashville FC opens NPSL play Friday in New Orleans, with the home opener May 22 against the Georgia Revolution.

In less than two years, Nashville FC's done what the Metros never could, and in a fraction of the time: get people to buy in. And they did it by literally asking people to buy in. Nationally, soccer is more popular than ever, and Nashville has become a regular destination for the U.S. men's team. (The Stars & Stripes will play a friendly at LP Field July 3; you can bet you'll see more than a few Nashville FC scarves in the stands.) Nashville FC's found itself in a special moment with the right formula.

Now we just have to see if they'll explode.

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