Nashville is one of four cities demonstrating momentum in the quest for a Major League Soccer expansion team, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Wednesday, as the league moves closer to a decision in December.

In an interview with reporters prior to Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game in Chicago, Garber mentioned Nashville among a group of four cities that he said have been energized during the expansion process.

Others he singled out are Sacramento, long considered a front-runner for an MLS expansion franchise, Cincinnati and Detroit.

"Cincinnati and Nashville, and Sacramento and Detroit — just to name four where we've been to recently. Man, the energy there is off the charts," Garber said. "Governors and mayors and CEOs all trying to tell their story about why they'd be great MLS expansion cities.

"It is a lot more ambitious and a lot more opportunistic than it was many years ago for sure," he said, comparing the league's expansion today to the past.

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Twelve cities are vying for four expansion spots that MLS is looking to fill. The league's plan is to pick a first group of two cities and its board of directors meeting in December.

The group, MLS2Nashville, which is pushing for MLS in Music City, in a Tweet thanked the commissioner for "the shoutout."

Garber was in Nashville last month to learn first-hand about Nashville's MLS bid, led by Nashville businessman John Ingram, and to attend the CONCACAF Gold Cup match at Nissan Stadium between the U.S. and Panama that 47,622 people attended.

At the time, the match broke Tennessee's soccer attendance record. But that mark was passed last week when a crowd of 56,232 attended the International Champions Cup game between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

During Garber's trip to Nashville last month, he said Nashville had risen "high on the list" to land an expansion team but did not say where exactly. He's declined to rank the 12 cities throughout the expansion process.

Nashville would likely need an MLS stadium plan in place before December to get awarded one of the first two franchises.

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The Ingram-led MLS Steering Committee had been scheduled on Monday to unveil their stadium vision for the Metro-owned Fairgrounds Nashville at a Metro Council committee meting. That meeting was postponed to accommodate a visitation following the death last week of Mayor Megan Barry's son. It will be rescheduled later this month.

MLS currently has 22 teams with clubs in Los Angles and Miami targeted to bring the number to 24. The next wave of expansion would bring the number of teams to 28.

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