(John Glennon, The Tennessean, 07.09.17)

NASHVILLE  — Walking into Nissan Stadium with paint on his ace and freshly made sign — “This Gringo Loves Mexico” — in his hands, Shelbyville’s Taylor Gannon was reveling in the pre-game soccer atmosphere on Saturday afternoon.

“This is crazy,” Gannon said, about an hour before the Mexican national team kicked off against New Zealand in front of a crowd of 40,287, the second-largest crowd in state history.

“I knew there would be a bunch of people here, but not like this. This is a lot more people than I expected.”

It was easy for Gannon, attending the game with Mexican-born Maria Garcia and soccer-loving youngsters Anthony Revelo and Jaxon Gannon, to think what it might be like if Nashville were to land a Major League Soccer team.

“I think we’d definitely come out for a lot of MLS games. Both of these guys love soccer and I’m the coach of their team, so any chance they get, they like to watch games.”

The enthusiasm appears to reflect Nashville’s growing appetite for soccer, one that has already led the USL to award Music City and expansion franchise — Nashville SC — that is scheduled to begin play in 2018, assuming a soccer-specific stadium is in place by then.

The next goal is to secure rights to an expansion franchise in the MLS, which is the top rung of club soccer in the U.S. — two steps above the USL.

“Today is a great step to bring MLS to Nashville,” said the head of Nashville’s MLS Organizing Committee, Bill Hagerty, who watched Saturday’s contest from a suite with mayor Megan Barry and MLS representatives among others. 

“We’re thrilled with the crowd. The energy here and around the stadium all day has been just outstanding. What we’re seeing on the field is great. Sitting here with MLS officials, they could not be more thrilled with the showing Nashville has made to support soccer.”

The MLS currently has 20 clubs and plans to expand to 22 in 2017 with the addition of teams in Atlanta and Minneapolis-St. Paul. A second franchise in Los Angeles and a likely Miami franchise would bring the number to a stated goal of 24 teams by the end of 202.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber has outlined plans to expand to 28 teams after 2020, which is the window Nashville is looking toward.

Saturday’s big crowd came about 15 months after the U.S. men’s national team drew a state record 44,825 to Nissan for a 4-0 win over Guatemala, and just seven months after the U.S. women drew their biggest crowd of 2016 — 25,363 — to Nissan as part of a soccer doubleheader.

“People look at this — the folks at MLS notice, promoters notice, investors with deep pockets notice,” said Gabe Gabor, press officer for MLS and Soccer United Marketing. “In general, the soccer world notices that Nashville is becoming a soccer city.”

“There are many factors that go into it, but obviously you need a passionate fan base, which Nashville certainly is on its way to building with Nashville SC.”

It wasn’t just the size of the crowd that drew the eye of ESPN FC’s Tom Marshall — who’s been covering the Mexican team for the past five years — but the way that the city of Nashville embraced the contest.

“I thought (attendance) would be pretty poor to be honest, but I think there’s definitely a buzz around the city with the game and just in general,” said the British-born Marshall. “People are really enjoying themselves here.

“Something like this shows the soccer culture of a place. The U.S. played here, got a good crowd. Mexico played here, got a good crowd. It’s all an indication to people making decisions in MLS that there’s something going on around here.”

Saturday’s contest actually marked the fifth time a men’s international contest drew big numbers to Nissan.

In addition to the record-breaking attendance last July fo the Guatemala contest, there was a crowd of 29,059 in 2011 for 1-0 U.S. loss to Paraguay, a crowd of 27,969 in 2009 that saw the U.S. beat Trinidad & Tobago 3-0, and a crowd of 26,141 that saw the U.S. lose 1-0 to Morocco in 2006.

Of course, good attendance at international contests — specifically ones involving the U.S. teams — doesn’t ensure by itself that a USL or MLS team would draw well.

There would be less star-power involved in league games than there are in national contests, and USL/MLS teams would also need to fill their home stadiums on a regular basis throughout a long season — not just for special occasions.

But on a picturesque evening of soccer that followed a day’s worth of electricity around the stadium, it was easy to believe Nashville’s soccer community had made quite an impression on MLS decision makers.

As an exclamation point, Nashville’s pedestrian bridge was lit up in the color of Mexico’s flag — green, white and red — following the contest.

“MLS has a great data point for us after today,” Hagerty said, “and I think that just underscores what a terrific city Nashville is as the next home for another franchise.”