Mayor Freddie O’Connell is addressing rumors that professional sport franchises are eyeing Nashville as a potential home and has outlined what those potentially interested teams would need to do to be considered by the city.
Apparently, it comes down to private funding, according to WKRN.
O’Connell specifically said that he had hear the “chatter” around pro teams eyeing the city of Nashville, including the recent rumors that the Tampa Bay Rays may be considering a new or temporary home.
O’Connell stated that if they want to come to Nashville that to be considered, leagues would need to have to find their own source of funding.
“We know that people are talking about Nashville as a sports market for a variety of franchise opportunities, but for us, this is not something we can consider seriously unless somebody brings a proposal to the table that shows us a fully-private financing plan for any kind of facility,” O’Connell said. “We do not have a major league baseball stadium and we are not intending to publicly finance one.”
O’Connell added that he would love to see Nashville either host or serve as the home of a professional women’s franchise on the heels of the recent announcement of the National Women’s Soccer League expansion, but reiterated that sports franchises would need a private funding plan to gain approval.
