STANDING ROOM PREFERRED: Geodis Park, Major League Soccer’s biggest sport-specific stadium, features a 3,000-space supporters section in Nashville. (Getty Images)
Geodis Park|Nashville, TN
Geodis Park stands as Major League Soccer’s biggest soccer-specific stadium and represents Nashville’s emergence as a rapidly expanding metropolis and a diverse audience with a thirst for the “world’s game.”
As the 2022 MLS season draws to a close in early November, the results confirm the stadium development team’s projections. Four months after the new home of Nashville SC opened in May, the team ranked fourth in league attendance, averaging 27,481 fans through 16 home dates, according to Soccer Stadium Digest data.
That’s the highest number in MLS for a soccer-specific facility. The top three clubs in attendance, Atlanta United FC, Charlotte FC and the Seattle Sounders, all play in NFL stadiums with greater capacity for soccer.
Populous designed Geodis Park, a $335 million venue built by Mortenson, with CAA Icon serving as owner’s representative. The building’s open concourse has views to the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, a section of Nashville going through redevelopment. It follows Germantown’s renaissance, where First Horizon Park, the city’s minor league ballpark, sits on the edge of downtown.
Keeping in mind the city’s leading role producing live music, Geodis Park can accommodate 27,000 for concerts with a stage that rolls out in the south end for headline acts. For promoters, that number fits snugly between Nissan Stadium and Bridgestone Arena for major tours.
The appetite for premium seats shows the demand in Music City for North American soccer at the highest level. Three months before the stadium opened, Nashville SC, led by marketing executive Chris Gallagher (see page 18), had sold most of the premium inventory among the 27 suites, 18 loge boxes and multiple club seat products.
All told, the team sold 23,000 season tickets, among MLS’s highest total for soccer-specific venues.
