The market will take care of itself and you will go to whatever you will go to.
While it’s interesting to monitor tickets bought and tickets used and attendance and non-attendance at local sporting events, I’ve long maintained I don’t expect people to go to them.
It’s on the teams and events to create the excitement to prompt you to want to be there.
So I think this is the first time in my life I’m urging anyone to buy tickets. (And he's a route to getting them cheaper that TicketMaster is selling them for: Call my sponsor, Tennessee Tickets at 931 398-4253. They'll get them from TicketMaster, sell them to you cheaper than face, you'll be happy and they'll have prompted you to come back for that tougher ticket you're looking for another time.)
But the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team plays Mexico at Nissan Stadium on Tuesday night.
And after a hearty debate about the MLS Stadium in Nashville and its passage in a recent vote, we lost sight of what is really a more important soccer story for the city.
The United States is the primary host of the 2026 World Cup, and Nashville is one of the U.S. cities under consideration to host games. I wrote in June that I think it’s got a better than 50-50 chance.
While MLS support will certainly help Music City’s case, Sept. 11 gives us a big opportunity to make a big showing that can get the attention of both FIFA and U.S. Soccer.
The parties on the streets for the Predators two recent playoff pushes were a great catalyst. The Titans’ uniform unveiling was too. Next spring, Nashville hosts the NFL Draft and, we’d expect, some more significant Stanley Cup Playoff hockey.
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All of that helps further show what a great host city we are, how we can handle a crowd and throw a party. We’ve got a downtown footprint that will appeal to the World Cup folks, we’ve got facilities that are plenty good and we’ve proven time and time again we know how to throw a party.
A U.S. Soccer spokesperson told me over the summer that while “the venue is an important part, what a city is able to deliver is probably more important now than it has been in the past.” And so the bid emphasized not just event days, but the time leading up to and in between games.
What we need to show now is that we will fill up Nissan Stadium for an international friendly featuring the two most popular national teams in town.
I bought three for my family shortly after they went on sale. I'm told the expectation right now it a crowd somewhere north of 30,000. We can and should do better.
The prices are not low. The rosters are not top flight.
But some of the future of U.S. Soccer will be on display, in a game against our absolute top rival, in our city which we hope to be a World Cup host in eight years.
If you’re any kind of soccer fan on the fence, if you’re the sort of person who might spend as a way of helping a case for bringing the world’s biggest sporting event to your backyard, this is the time to do so.
I hope to see you there.
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