Ingram Industries Chair John Ingram, who is leading the effort to bring an MLS team to Nashville, "has now purchased a majority stake" in Nashville SC, which is scheduled to begin play in the USL next season, according to Joey Garrison of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. It makes Ingram majority owner of Nashville SC, and it likely strengthens Nashville's "candidacy for one of four MLS expansion spots." Ingram "acquired majority interest" in DMD Soccer, the club's ownership arm founded by LifePoint President David Dill and Nashville entrepreneurs Chris Redhage and Marcus Whitney. For months, talks had "swirled about a potential partnership between Nashville SC and the Ingram-led MLS Steering Committee, which includes a long list of Middle Tennessee business heavyweights who support MLS in Nashville." Presenting a united soccer front is "seen as a boost for Nashville's MLS chances" (TENNESSEAN.com, 5/4). SI.com's Brian Straus noted the expansion race "is tight." For a city like Nashville, which is a "younger major league market and at the center of a metro area that’s just the USA’s 36th most-populous, every little bit helps." Ingram is part of a "very prominent Nashville family" worth more than $4B. That will "appeal at MLS headquarters." Now, his purchase of Nashville SC "provides a preemptive answer to another potential question." Straus: "Everyone is working together. The investor, the existing team (as of 2018) and the mayor are aligned" (SI.com, 5/4). In Nashville, Eleanor Kennedy noted neither Nashville nor DMD have "announced definitive plans for a stadium." However, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry has said that the Nashville Fairgrounds is the "only logical place for an MLS stadium to be built" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/4).
