Will General on why Nashville should have a Major League team

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Let's have everybody to put their best foot forward, and I know that we'll be standing tent toe's middle of the ring, ready to tell why Nashal is the next best place. Here we go.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: Will General is the Nashville Stars director of marketing, joining us right now to talk about what could soon be an MLB destination. Will great to have you on the show. Thank you for the time. And I mean, I'm going to start out hot. When is this happening? When's Nashville getting the team?

00:00:28
Speaker 1: Man? Hey, gentlemen, really appreciate you having me on today. And yeah, I'm excited to talk about the Nashville Stars. And there are things we can control and things we can't control. We cannot control when the commissioner is going to be ready for expanding Major League Baseball. But as those situations in Tampa and the Athletics start to get figured out, we're really excited to share our package with Major League Baseball and the rest of the league for why Nashal is the next best city for Major League Baseball.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: So Will, what communication has happened so far with MLB, Like can you speak to them about this and get everything ready in advance for when the league finally makes that announcement that they're ready to add ball clubs, and what is the package, like, I mean, give.

00:01:09
Speaker 1: Us the pitch, Yeah, for sure. So we're in regular communication with Major League Baseball and what we're doing and what we're building here, and what we're doing is clearing all the roadblocks and making it an easy path for Major League Baseball to show up here. So expecting no preferential treatment or anything, we are regularly updating them on what we're doing. On the real estate side, I mean, with this city and this town, it's about finding the right location for a stadium or an arena as we talk about it, because baseball is only going to be a be there for eighty one nights a year, plus some playoffs we'd love to see. But the rest of that night, the rest of those nights, that place is going to be filled with the best entertainment in town. The city cannot stop growing and will not stop growing and really being the entertainment mecca of the Southeast. We're excited to bring major League Baseball here. So the real estate, you have the venue itself, and then you have the team. So that's one thing that's a little bit different about us is that we are really investing in the team and the brand right now. The Nationville Stars were a Negro League's team that played here in the forties and the fifties, and they're actually Stars teams in Philadelphia and Detroit and Saint Louis all throughout the Negro Leagues. And we have a great partnership with Bob Kendrick and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. And it's our belief that the final stamp and all of the things that Major League Baseball has done to recognize the Negro Leagues as a major league is to name a team after a Negro League's team.

00:02:27
Speaker 3: Hey, hey, Will, I love that. And you know, being from Ashville, I do know how you know, big Nashville is starting to grow. So you know, my question is when you talk about location, you talk about, you know, being able to build a stadium, parking, what does that look like there? And then too, you talk about a lot of other cities that you know, I always say Charlotte would be would be a great place. What makes Nashville, you know, especially too from a minority standpoint, Why is that a good place to build a brand outside of the history that comes to the Negro leagues.

00:03:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and come on out to Nashville and you'll see it yourself. I mean, I have lots of love for Charlotte. I went to Davidson, I played baseball there, so lots of love for Charlotte. But Nashville is on a different planet right now. I mean, we just had Cmafes, the biggest scene in country music. There are a million people downtown in Nashville. From the NFL Draft a few years ago to all of the teams that have come here, I mean, hockey was never supposed to succeed in Nashville and they have one of the best fan bases in the country. Soccer would never succeed in Nashville and have one of the best fan bases in the country. And this is baseball country right here. I mean in our backyard. Across the street from me are the Vandy Boys and Hawkins Field and Tim Corbins, an advisor of ours, out East and East Tennessee. I mean Tennessee had an unbelievable run last year and made a good push this year as well. So this is just baseball country on the minority front, I mean, Nashville is an incredibly diverse city and a ton of history of black music. I mean, Nashville is so centrally located that all of the jazz that came up from New Orleans and all the blues over in Memphis was stopping here in Nashville as well. There's an amazing black music scene here in Nashville, an amazing diverse community. But this is really a game for everyone. I mean, I don't have to tell you guys how how unifying the game of baseball is. And with a city and a state with a ton of pride like Nashville, Tennessee, it's just right for Major League Baseball to come here.

00:04:25
Speaker 3: All right.

00:04:25
Speaker 4: So somebody that's also been involved in this a little bit with another city in Orlando trying to get a team, where's the money going to come from? That's what I want to know. Do you have an owner that's going to step up and say I'm going to be the majority owner. Do you have a location for the stadium, because I mean, I remember I've watched what the Titans went through and they kind of struggled to get a stadium build. Is there a location where's the money for a stadium going to come from? And then if you want an expansion team. Who's going to pay the expansion fee because that's already going to probably start at what two billion plus, yeah plus a stadium.

00:04:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, we don't have a go fund me set up right now, but we've been reased funding for the last six years. We've been at this since twenty nineteen and have had an amazing group of local investors and national investors pouring into what we're building here. Yeah, the team will be expensive, in the stadium will be expensive. We are fully planning to self fund it, and we have tons of investors from the baseball world and from outside of the baseball world that are incredibly excited about what we're building here. So the money is going to come. We are very confident in that Major League Baseball will ultimately decide who the ownership group is, and what we're doing is sort of building this incredible package to be exciting to a potential group of future investors so that we can have that best package to go to Major League Baseball.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: Hey, Will, I want to ask you talk about a kid that grew up in the South. You know, typically when you grew up around these parts, it's Braves Country. How do you plan on winning over a new fan base and kind of converting a lot of these you know, a lot of Braves fans that are in ASHVIU, I mean Nashville, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina. You know, you get a lot of people.

00:06:04
Speaker 1: That at the end of the day, it's this Braves country.

00:06:07
Speaker 3: What is that like as far as the marketing goes, as far as trying to win some of those fans over to say, hey, this is another new team of the South that you guys can get behind.

00:06:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was also Falcons country, and it was whoever else's country. So I mean, that's one very special thing about this place. I mean, the city's growing like crazy. I'm not a native. I moved from Chicago most recently, but when you get down here, you sort of start drinking that Southern kool later that sweet tea, I should say, and you start to just want to be a part of it. So not only will people have their historic fandom, but we think that they'll be excited to support a team from here in Nashville, Tennessee, built by the local community here. So we're excited to go to battle with all the neighboring teams and bring more people into our fan base. I mean from a marketing standpoint, it's all storytelling and merchandise right now.

00:06:56
Speaker 2: For us.

00:06:56
Speaker 1: We believe the story is rooted deeply in Tennessee history, baseball history, and in American history. So it's about telling that story to more people. And then on the merchandise side, it's about finding great partners to help us tell that story. So I'm rocking our new era hat right here. We put these out first in March. Within a week we sold out to thirty six different states to non US countries. We put them at back out in June. We're to have fifty states and five non US countries. So I think you can see that the story that we're building and the team that we're really building this whole package around is there's already demand for it. So I'll make sure to get a package sent over to you guys, so you can rep the stars from where you're at. Yeah, I appreciate that. Love that.

00:07:39
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00:07:50
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00:08:01
Speaker 1: It's a little funny.

00:08:02
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00:08:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you did it awesome.

00:08:07
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00:08:12
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00:08:17
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00:08:18
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00:08:22
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00:08:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's just so much bescigement for baseball here in town. I think those two examples you gave are points of it. I mean, I was down at the Vandy Boys games all throughout the stretch with my son, and I mean, it's just an amazing baseball atmosphere, an educated fan base, a fan base that demands excellent so that that's something that will strive for as well. But yeah, the fans are incredibly excited. They love the brand, they love the hats, they love the idea of a team. So yeah, we're building fans well before we have a team and highlights and all of that. So that'll make my job easy at that point. But right now, it's all about the drumming up excitement for the opportunity to bring major League baseball here in town and then to really honor the negro leagues along the way.

00:09:34
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna kind of take a few fan questions and blend them into one. They're asking about other cities that are bidding for teams, and even other cities or teams that are still figuring out their own stadium situations. How much does your group keep track of that because technically, I mean, the other teams bidding eventually are going to be your competition. And then even a situation like the Rays, which is still being figured out. It seems like they're going to stay put in Florida, but you never know, So how much do you track those situations and what are your thoughts?

00:10:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're very in tune with everything that's going on in Major League Baseball from the expansion side and the relocation side. We are solely focused on expansion. I mean, everything that we're doing would hopefully be attractive to anybody looking to relocate, but our focus on expansion, So we're very in tune with it. I mean I get excited about that side of it when we are really out there having this conversation that the game of baseball is healthy and strong and we should look at expanding to new cities, and yeah, let's have everybody to put their best foot forward. And I know that we'll be standing tent to's middle of the ring, ready to tell why Nashville is the next best place.

00:10:41
Speaker 4: All right, So I got to ask somebody again that's been involved with the Orlando effort to try to get a team in Orlando. You look at media market rankings, Nashville's twenty sixth right now, Orlando's fifteen, already going to pass Detroit probably for fourteen, is coming up on thirteen with Seattle. You know, you have other teams, Nashville's twenty six, Portland's possibility at twenty three, it's at twenty one, Salt Lake City's at twenty eight. What's the pitch to get them? Because one thing MLB work looks at is TV markets in national markets. How do you explain that Nashville is so low on this list? I mean, listen, the fact that they went to Vegas at forty. I mean, I guess it kind of proves your argument, right, But it's crazy. They went from Oakland, which is, you know, top ten to Vegas is kind of crazy. But you know, what's the pitch there? And how do you get MLB to agree to this? Because normally MLB wants the bigger markets that are left.

00:11:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think media markets in this day and age and what's going to happen with the media deals with Major League Baseball is one way of looking at it. But I think we're moving towards something where that we're going to have national rights, where we're going to be able to reach And looking at just Nashville as a dot really under sells this entire region of Mississippi and Alabama and Arkansas and West Tennessee and East Tennessee. I mean, the fan base for the Titans and for the Predators exists far beyond this small a circle which is Nashville, which will continue to grow and is continuing to grow and has grown every single year on those lists. So this market can absolutely support it. And especially as you start to think about this broader region. I mean, if you look at the College World Series just the last couple of weeks, I think there were thirteen SEC teams within a couple hour drive from Nashville. There are a lot of fans that are up for grabs, that are excited about the opportunity to bring baseball here.

00:12:25
Speaker 3: Hey, will last one for me. You're doing a great job of, you know, like you said, getting the community involved doing a lot of self funny. But when you have these big projects, is there anybody else, notable maybe behind the scenes that kind of help you, you know, push this thing along to kind of try to get it moving as far as Major League Baseball goes, Yeah, we have a.

00:12:46
Speaker 1: Bunch of really great advisors, both on the entertainment side and on the baseball side. I mean, short list. On the baseball side. Don Mattingly's an advisor, Versus Bochi's an advisor, Tony Laruss's an advisor, Dave Dombrowski's an advisor. So we have an amazing group of well respected gentlemen in the league that are very very aware of what we're doing and supportive of what we're doing, regularly repping our hats out there at Major League Baseball functions and around. So that's just on the baseball side. And what makes Nashville different is that entertainment side. So from Luke Combs to Darius Rucker to Jelly Roll to Mitchell Tenpenny, I mean, we've had so many different stars unintended repping our hat on stage. It's really showing that this is a very authentic locals thing. I mean, when you see Mitchell Tenpenny wear our hat the day after they go on sale, and it looks like something you just pulled off the shelf. I think it's a testament to what we're building here and the amazing community that's really shouting from the rooftops that it's time for Major League Baseball to come here to Nashville.

00:13:48
Speaker 2: Hey, last one on my end, Oh go ahead, Aja.

00:13:50
Speaker 4: Are these guys you're talking about were they invested in this or are they just supporting it as advisors? Because the biggest thing that I've learned being a little bit involved in this is you need people in NY that are willing to put their money behind it. Now it's great that they're wearing a national star's hat, but are they willing to put money behind it to help with this cause.

00:14:08
Speaker 1: That group includes both investors and pure advisors who are representing the brand and telling our story. And then we have a long list of investors outside of the public realm that are funding what we're doing today and investing more money every single day to bring this to reality.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: There you go, and that kind of plays into my last part here is you know how many celebrities and athletes that have roots to the area. You know, are you still receiving phone calls for like, how does that action work nowadays? Where Hey, it's no secret that if you're involved with a team, it's fun and it can be very lucrative. Like there are a lot of pluses, right And we've seen some you know, legends get involved with teams. I mean Magic Johnson is a good example. He's involved with Dodgers. Pretty smart move on many fronts. So how many calls do you receive in your role from people that are reaching out to get involved with the team and how does that go?

00:15:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's pretty regular at this point and it's a great thing. And Magic's a really great example as well. John Lore, managing director, who started this dream in twenty nineteen, was actually part of the counter offer to the Dodgers when Magic and his group wanted So lots of connections there. But yeah, we are regularly talking to investors, advisors, partners. I mean we have a new partnership coming together with Rawlings right now. I mean lots of people are interested in what we're doing, and the ability to be in on the ground floor is a pretty unique thing. I mean, this is a special asset class that not everybody has access to, and people are excited to really support what we're doing here and to be some of the first fans of the Nasville Stars and be a future owner of a team someday.

00:15:55
Speaker 2: I love it. Well, well, this was awesome. Thanks for talking to us obviously. Good luck with the process. We're keeping an eye on it as well. It's been talked about for a long time, so hopefully they start to move in that direction soon. We appreciate it.

00:16:07
Speaker 1: We'll be following, yep, I'll follow you. Follow up with you guys, and get you guys some merch so you can rep two. And for anybody listening, please follow us at Stars Baseball, nationale Stars on all social channels. Stick with us for the ride. It's gonna be a fun one.

00:16:21
Speaker 2: There you go, give it a follow. The merch is tight. I like that a lot. The black brim and the white that's crisp, really nice. So yeah, appreciate it again. Everyone, go check out what the Nashville Stars are working on here and we'll catch you down the road.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: Thanks Will, Thanks gentlemen,