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Nashville’s Roadies Excited for City's New Soccer Era

By AUSTIN GWIN – USLSoccer.com Contributor, 07/03/16, 10:09AM EDT

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Supporters’ group has been at heart of Nashville's soccer community growth since 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Drums pounded. Trumpets blared. Chants echoed.

As the Nashville FC “Roadies” paraded through the front door of Bridgestone Arena Friday afternoon, they ushered in the newest professional franchise in the United Soccer League.

“The biggest excitement for me is that it’s something we started three years ago that developed into a USL team,” said Newton Dominey, a founding member of The Roadies. “It’s not a team of outsiders or investors we don’t know. It’s grown out of a grassroots team. It started with people saying ‘yeah, we need a soccer team.’”

The Roadies brought the party, leading hundreds of fans, young and old, through the many Nashville FC songs. Each announcement brought waves of music and applause. 

“It gets us excited,” said one of the new Nashville SC owners Chris Redhage. “We love the Roadies, and we love the fans. We don’t have to create a brand; we have a brand. Our job is just to take it to the professional level and start winning championships.”

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, who led the Roadies’ parade into the press conference, Nashville Predators Chief Operating Officer Sean Henry, and all three primary owners of Nashville SC spoke in front of the fans. While their words may have been different, their message was the same – Nashville is ready for professional soccer, and the USL is excited to be expanding to the Music City.

“It is such a great day for Nashville,” said Barry. “We are a sports city, and we love soccer because it’s a beautiful game that supports teamwork, skill and endurance. For many people in the South, it’s the other football, but for most of the people in the world, it’s the only football. … We are thrilled to be joining the USL family.”

The process will take 20 months, more than enough time to begin rivalries. Of the 29 other clubs in the USL, a few are close geographically to Tennessee including the Charlotte Independence, Louisville City FC, and FC Cincinnati, which has seen remarkable success on the field and in the stands in its inaugural season this year.

Potential USL rivals were more than civil on social media as many chimed in offering their salutations and congratulations.

“They’ve been blowing us up on Twitter today,” said Dominey. “We’ve got established clubs excited for regional rivalries. We’re ready.”


Photo courtesy Eric Dorman / Nashville FC

Redhage, a former USL player himself, knows how big rivalry matches can be for a new club as it establishes itself. In the last three years alone, the league has expanded into 11 new markets, and including Nashville that number will grow to 14 in the next three years. New rivalries are being formed each season in the growing USL, and Redhage is primed for the ones to come for Nashville FC.

“We want to go up and beat Cincinnati and want to beat Louisville,” said Redhage. “We are going to compete hard.”

The President of the USL, Jake Edwards, who was on-hand to officially award the franchise to the ownership group, summed up why Nashville and its fan base are so integral to the growth of the league.

“You do your research, and you think what a market can do,” said Edwards. “You can see what it means when it attracts this many people. We know this is going to be extremely successful.” 

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