The United Soccer League has awarded a group of Nashville investors an expansion professional soccer franchise, set to begin in the 2018 USL season.
The Nashville-based ownership group is called DMD Soccer. The team 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.
“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.”
The USL has a membership fee of $3 million for an expansion franchise.
The ownership group has confirmed that it will host a public event in mid-June to roll out its overall vision for the new team. Nashville is the capital and largest city in Tennessee.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to bring professional soccer to Nashville, and I am excited to partner with the USL, Marcus and Chris to make this vision a reality,” Dill said in a statement.
Is Nashville a good city for an USL expansion team?
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Great news.
Love it! Nashville did it right in their previous WCQ’s they’ve hosted. They showed soccer is thriving. I was there! Not only does my family live in Nashville but I have family in Louisville. Tell you what………. a nice rivalry between Nashville, Louisville, Cincy could be excited. All short trips and all budding soccer communities. Now if Indy would move to USL that would add to the rivalry.
Congrats Nashville. Join the party.