From their front office, to fans in the stands, to the stadium, to the team they're putting together, I'm just not seeing where a success is going to come from. And you know what, if I'm wrong, great. At worst we get a well run successful MLS franchise near Cincinnati to play games against for years to come. But I don't think we're going to get that.

MLS hasn't had an expansion team fail out of the gate yet. LAFC and Atlanta are the new standard for success in the league. Minnesota has incredible fan support, a beautiful brand new stadium, and a team on the upswing. Even FC Cincinnati's terrible first season on the field was supported by some of the best fan support in the league. Yes my arm is tired from patting myself on the back. Going back a little further we have NYCFC and Orlando. NYCFC plays on a baseball field and doesn't have nearly the fanbase the league probably expected them to have, but they play in the largest media market in the country and have been one of the most successful teams on the field since entering the league. Orlando, the original USL darling turned MLS franchise (also involved in relocating a Austin franchise before it was cool) hit the ground running with a huge star signing in Kaka, crazy fan support, and a beautiful stadium all their own.

My point is, new teams in MLS tend to get off to a great start with rabid fan support, good on field performances, beautiful stadiums, star players, or some combination of those.

Nashville will be lucky to have one of those. Let's break it down.

Fan Support

They don't have much of a fan base to speak of. Nashville finished 6th in USL average attendance with less than 7,000 people per game coming out to games. Not quite the passionate fanbase we're used to hearing about for expansion sides. Throw in the fact that as of writing, Nashville has yet to announce numbers for season tickets next year lead me to believe they’re not smashing sales records. Even Austin FC played a little fast and loose with their ticket accounting to make themselves look more popular than they are. Instead Nashville is going to have tiny crowds play in a massive NFL stadium. You need only watch an old Wizards match in Arrowhead stadium, or an Indy XI match, to see how bad that's going to look.