Nashville minor league soccer group moves forward despite push for MLS, changes name

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http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2016/09/09/nashville-minor-league-soccer-group-moves-forward.html

Nashville minor league soccer group moves forward despite push for MLS, changes name

Sep 9, 2016, 1:51pm CDT

Jacob Steimer

The investment group behind Nashville’s United Soccer League franchise announced Friday that the club will change its name from "Nashville Football Club" to "Nashville Soccer Club." The slight tweak comes as the investment group, DMD Soccer, pushes toward beginning USL play in 2018, despite a recently announced, and unrelated, Major League Soccer push grabbing much of the city's soccer focus.

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What Redhage said, though, runs in contrast to what Hagerty said in August, when he spoke of making an immediate push for an MLS franchise without waiting for the USL team to begin play. Hagerty — who initially pursued talks with North American Soccer League, the second-tier American pro league — said he chose to employ the direct strategy after MLS officials told him at a meeting in New York that the MLS's next expansion would come quickly and would be its last for at least the next few years. This point was reinforced Wednesday, when MLS Commissioner Don Garber told Forbes the league's next expansion could be its last.