When the Predators made their Stanley Cup run, the whole city turned gold. Now Nashville SC is selling out GEODIS Park and drawing a younger, hipper crowd. Is Music City big enough to have two passionate fanbases, or are the Preds quietly becoming the second team in their own city?
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Add your commentHard disagree. I was at Game 6 of the 2017 Cup run. I've NEVER felt anything like that in this city, before or since. A soccer match at GEODIS is fun, sure, but it's a completely different energy — more like a festival than a war. The Preds built something real over 25 years of bad seasons and empty arenas before anyone cared. Nashville SC showed up when Nashville was already cool. That's not the same thing.
my grandfather took me to the very first Predators home game in 1998. we were two of maybe 8,000 people in that building and he bought me a Kimmo Timonen jersey that i still have. so forgive me if i dont particularly care that a soccer team with a three-year history is suddenly the hot new thing. come back and talk to me in 2045.
Somebody needs to say it — the Predators front office got complacent. When you're the only game in town you can charge whatever you want and coast on nostalgia. Nashville SC showed up with better marketing, a younger vibe, and a stadium that actually feels built for the sport. Competition is good. Maybe it lights a fire under the Preds organization instead of them just riding the Smashville brand forever.
Can someone explain to me why the crowd at GEODIS is so much louder and more energetic than Bridgestone on most nights? I went to both last month and the difference was jarring. Bridgestone felt like a corporate outing and GEODIS felt like people actually wanted to be there. That's not a soccer vs hockey thing — that's an organizational culture thing and the Preds need to look inward.
I moved here from Portland about three years ago and honestly Nashville SC was my entry point into caring about this city at all. I know that probably sounds terrible to the Preds diehards, but the soccer community here welcomed me immediately. Section 105 tailgates are something else. Doesn't mean I hate hockey — I just don't have $200 for a lower-bowl seat.
I think what gets lost here is that Nashville SC draws a lot of people who weren't sports fans at all before — young professionals, transplants, people who grew up in soccer cultures elsewhere. They're not taking seats from the Preds, they're filling seats that were never going to Bridgestone anyway. I've talked to plenty of folks in the supporter groups who also hold Preds season tickets. The overlap is bigger than the think pieces suggest.
The premise of this question is a little silly tbh. Chicago has the Cubs, Sox, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, and Fire and nobody asks if the Fire is stealing identity from the Bears. Nashville getting a second passionate fanbase is a GOOD thing. It means we're a real sports city now, not a novelty.
Fun fact for everyone: Nashville SC actually plays in the NFL stadium, not GEODIS Park. GEODIS is a separate soccer-specific stadium they built in Wedgewood-Houston. Just want to make sure people have the right information before this debate goes sideways.
both can exist lol. this city has grown by like 100 people a day for the past decade, theres more than enough fans to go around. the real problem is ticket prices at bridgestone have gotten insane and thats why younger people are drifting toward geodis. its not loyalty, its math
lmaooo "quietly becoming the second team" the preds literally went to a stanley cup final. calm down. one good mls season and suddenly hockeys dead in nashville? people love a narrative
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