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Music City Is a Sports Town

How Nashville Is Turning Its Focus from Strictly Music to Sports

By Nate QuellhorstPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Nashville, Tennessee, A.K.A. Music City. This southern metropolis has been the dream of every starry-eyed wannabe singer/songwriter that wants to make it big for decades. Well, not anymore! OK, so a ton of people who want a break in the music industry still move to Nashville all the time, but that's not the point of this, now is it? Nashville has shown that this city deeply cares about her sports teams (yes, a city is referred to in the feminine tense, much like ships and lake monsters; shoutout to How I Met Your Mother on that).

Let's break this down sport-by-sport.

Right off the bat (get it?) let's look at the Oakland A's Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds. The Sounds have been a part of Nashville since 1978 and have been at the top of the farm system for numerous major league franchises such as the Yankees, Tigers, Reds, White Sox, Pirates, Brewers, and now the A's. The Sounds are a hit (another pun there for ya). Attendance has increased since the team moved to First Tennessee Park in 2015. During the inaugural season at the new ballpark, the team saw a 43.3 percent increase in attendance from the previous season. If that isn't enough, the stadium cost the city around $75 million dollars to build. Despite going over the original budget, fans are still flocking to games each summer.

Next up, the Tennessee Titans. Honesty time, I'm a diehard Indianapolis Colts fan, so the Titans have been a rival for a while. However, as a citizen of Nashville, I can say that the Titans have created a buzz over the past few seasons since drafting Marcus Mariota to helm the offense. Titans fans have begun to show up with the rise of the team in the, albeit poor, AFC South Division with a 3.1 percent increase in attendance from 2016-2017. At the unveiling of the team's new jerseys, more than 20,000 fans came out to Broadway to celebrate and enjoy a free concert from Florida Georgia Line. The Titans have been putting fans in the seats and asserting that they a force in the NFL.

Now for the new kids on the block, Nashville S.C. Soccer is new to Nashville, kicking off its inaugural season with close to 20,000 fans attending the first game at Nissan Stadium. Nashville S.C. is already starting to draw crowds which in part is due to Nashville being awarded the next MLS expansion franchise earlier this year. Fans are getting psyched for the new major sport to come to town by going out and supporting the USL franchise. Soccer might not be the most popular sport in the United States, but Nashville is getting behind the hometown team.

And finally, the top dogs of Nashville sports: The Nashville Predators. Smashville went ALL OUT last year when the Preds made their first ever Stanley Cup final. Although the team didn't bring Lord Stanley's Cup back to Music City, love for the navy & gold has not wavered. The Preds brought home the President's Trophy, the trophy awarded to the NHL franchise scoring the most points during the regular season, AND won the Western Conference, putting them as the top seed in this year's playoffs.

The pride that Nashville has in the Predators alone goes to show just how much of a sports town that Music City has become. With high tourism rates leading to high attendance numbers at sporting events all over the city, Nashville is becoming more than just a place for musicians to chase their dreams.

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About the Creator

Nate Quellhorst

Jack of all trades, master of a few. @NateOfTheUnion_ on the Twitter

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