Ian Ayre, chief executive of Nashville SC, has confirmed that the team will join Major League Soccer in 2020 and begin playing at Nissan Stadium, home of NFL American football team the Tennessee Titans.
Nashville’s MLS expansion franchise secured its intended site for a new stadium in September 2018 with a clear vote in favour of the project.
The $275m (£209m/€240m) stadium will be based at the Fairgrounds Nashville site but it is not expected to be ready until 2021.
In the meantime, the team will play at the 69,000-seat Nissan Stadium, home of the Titans since 1999. In an interview with local newspaper The Tennessean, Ayre said: “They (the Titans) continue to be a great neighbour and a great partner, really.
“We’re very happy to start over there, start our journey and then, once our own home’s ready, we’ll move in.”
On the team joining MLS next year, Ayre added: “That’s been confirmed now by the league. We’ve always been working to that date and at the recent league meetings that was confirmed.
“I don’t think it was a surprise. It was just a bit of sequencing. It doesn’t change anything for us. We’re very happy to be starting then.
“In terms of this city, (Nissan Stadium) ticks all the boxes that we would need for that interim solution: Good stadium, good facilities, good capacity. We’re just excited to get going. There’s still some bits and pieces, work in progress, but it’s more of an operational discussion than some big negotiation.”
When asked whether the new stadium would be ready for the 2021 MLS season, Ayre said: “That’s the plan. Absolutely.”
Image: Pixabay
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