United Bid Committee didn’t mean to say Nashville is entering MLS in 2019

After several hours of confusion and two clarifications, the misunderstanding surrounding Nashville’s timeline for entry into MLS has been resolved. The United Bid Committee has told multiple outlets, including Music City Soccer that its inadvertent declaration in its World Cup bid packet submitted to FIFA that Nashville “will start playing in [MLS] in 2019” is not reflective of any decision that has been made by Major League Soccer. Nor is it reflective of any MLS secrets being leaked to the bid committee; it was merely a mistake in the bid packet copy.

In attempt to clear up that first confusion, however, the bid committee created a second one, sending a message out to several journalists that included this sentence: “MLS has confirmed the new Nashville expansion team will not begin playing in the league in 2019 and a start date has not been finalized.”

At first reading, it looks like they’re saying Nashville has been ruled out for a 2019 entry into MLS. This is not what its author meant to say, however, Music City Soccer confirmed in a series of follow-up emails. The bid committee spokesperson only meant to say MLS has yet to make a decision about when Nashville will enter — and that could possibly include 2019.

More to the point, this is not a decision for the United Bid Committee —representing the U.S., Canada, and Mexico’s joint efforts to host World Cup 2026 — were ever in a position to make.

Our story from today, as it originally appeared:

According to the joint North American bid packet submitted to FIFA for World Cup 2026, Nashville SC will be entering MLS in 2019. Page 97 of the packet reads, “The city was recently awarded the 24th expansion team in Major League Soccer (MLS), Nashville SC, which will start playing in the league in 2019.”

Nashville is mentioned in the bid packet as one of 23 candidate host cities, eventually to be whittled down to 16.

We’ve reached out to MLS to try and find out whether it is indeed the case that Nashville will enter the league in 2019 or if the person at the United States Soccer Federation writing copy for the bid packet just got a fact wrong. So far, no reply. We’ll let you know if that changes.

Would a 2019 entry into MLS, instead of 2020 be good for Nashville SC? We’ve argued in the past that waiting for the later entry date would be better for the longterm health of the club. But as the strength of Sacramento and Detroit’s bids have weakened and as Cincinnati has had difficulty securing a location for its permanent home, Nashville might get pushed to the front of the line in this round of expansion.