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Collaboration, Community at Heart of Nashville Soccer

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 05/25/16, 3:46PM EDT

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New USL club’s owners see convergence that will lead team to success


Photo courtesy USL Nashville 2018

As the Chairman of the Board at Nashville FC, Marcus Whitney saw up close how the changing demographics of one of America’s iconic cities was making it ready for a professional soccer club to arrive.

Now, as one of the co-founders of DMD Soccer, Whitney is excited for what he, David Dill and Chris Redhage can build after the awarding of a USL franchise to Music City, USA.

“We’ve got a convergence of things happening in Nashville right now that really do make this the perfect time to bring professional soccer to town,” Whitney said this week. “We’ve got an incredibly vibrant, and every day more integrated, international community. A lot of people don’t know that 11 percent of our population are new Americans and immigrants, and so obviously being the world’s sport, it’s great to be able to bring a professional level of soccer here to make this city more international in and of itself.

“We’ve also got one of the highest rates of millennials moving into the city right now across the entire country, and soccer being the emerging sport of millennials in America, that’s obviously also great. Then, we’ve just got soccer fans who have been closet soccer fans that no-one’s really known about until the U.S. men’s and women’s teams came here, [and] we get 45,000 and 25,000 people coming out to Nissan Stadium to see it. I think there’s been a lot of momentum, and a lot of great trends lining up for this moment, and we’re just happy that we can be part of making sure it happens.”


More than 45,000 fans were in attendance when the United States Men's National Team defeated Guatemala at Nissan Stadium

The founder and President of Jumpstart Foundry, a seed-stage healthcare innovation fund, Whitney’s involvement in Nashville FC – which was founded in 2013 – planted the seed for what was to come. Seeing the club’s organic growth, and factoring in Nashville’s changing demographics, he reached out within the local business community to see how feasible establishing a professional club would be.

“I put together some feelers to a couple of people I felt would be interested in talking about what that looked like, and David and Chris emerged,” Whitney said.

With healthcare one of Nashville’s other major industries outside of entertainment, each of the three men worked in different areas of the business – with Dill the President of a large health system, Redhage the co-founder of a healthcare technology company, and Whitney a healthcare investor – the circles they moved in brought the trio together.

From there, the pieces began to fall into place.

“We had a lot in common when it came down to values and professional background and really how we thought this could impact the city in a positive way,” Whitney said. “Pretty quickly, we all hit it off and set out to try and bring professional soccer here for the betterment of the city.”

“Some of the shared culture and values that we have of building organizations of excellence that are focused on core values – winning championships, positivity, developing people and developing talent – along with our passion for soccer really kind of knitted us together,” added Redhage. “It gave us the energy to pursue this, and then obviously execute and make it happen.”

With the success Nashville FC found in building a member-based, community-oriented organization from the ground up also provided inspiration for the trio. According to Redhage, the spirit of collaboration is a major part of what has made Nashville the city it has become, while Whitney’s experience at the club left an indelible mark as he worked alongside fellow volunteers to build to club into a success.

That spirit of community and collaborative effort is definitely something both men are aiming to carry to the new club.

“The culture of collaboration that goes on in this town is very special,” said Redhage. “I feel that within the soccer community, where people are really looking to collaborate and work together to help ensure that professional soccer and soccer in general is successful.”

As a former player, the growth of soccer since he last suited up for the PDL’s Des Moines Menace in the early 2000s has been eye-opening for Redhage. With MLS then still looking to find its footing, and the USL a very different organization to the one it is today, the focus from both leagues in raising the fan experience through soccer-specific stadiums, and increased investment on and off the field has created an atmosphere that Redhage believes talented players and executives are now being drawn to.

“When we really started focusing on building soccer-specific stadiums, it’s made it a very professional atmosphere, a very fun atmosphere,” Redhage said. “The players loved it, the coaches loved it, and that obviously brought more money and talent into the sport both on a playing level and a leadership level.


Photo courtesy USL Nashville 2018

“Across the board, you’re starting to see talent migrate to soccer because of the talent that’s in it, and is growing in it. That’s where I think the USL and MLS and some of these visionaries 15 years ago really thought that soccer could be the next sport in America, and that’s the big difference that I’ve seen.”

Now with DMD Soccer, Redhage, Whitney and Dill are ready to start building toward the club’s debut in 2018. With the pillars of community and collaboration at the club’s heart, their focus is now on building a team the community will embrace, and putting the pieces in place that will expand Nashville’s reputation as a great soccer city.

“Community is the club, at the end of the day,” said Whitney. “[Being part of Nashville FC was] a big lesson about how important the community is ultimately to the club. I hope to carry that into everything that we’re going to do with this franchise, to make sure we’re community first. I see it as a responsibility, and an honor and a privilege to be able to work with Chris and David to bring this franchise to Nashville, and we owe it to the community to make sure that we do it ultimately for the community, and with the community.”

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