Potential Nashville MLB Expansion Team Releases Logo

Major League Baseball is in a time of transition, with the Athletics leaving Oakland at the end of the 2024 season for Sacramento. And then potentially, eventually, Las Vegas.

The Tampa Bay Rays are playing the 2025 season in the New York Yankees' spring training facility in Tampa, with an uncertain future. 

And then there's expansion.

The league currently has 30 teams, but the more teams, the more markets, the more revenue the sport takes in. And there are a number of cities vying for Rob Manfred's attention and putting together ownership groups making their pitch to MLB. 

Salt Lake City is one option, Portland another, and Austin, with its large corporate base and high incomes, another. Then there's Nashville. And not only does their expansion effort already have a group name, it has a potential team name and now, a logo to go with it.

The "Music City Baseball" group released renderings of the logo and hat for the "Nashville Stars," their hope for an expansion team in Tennessee.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.  (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

How Realistic Is MLB In Nashville?

Nashville does make sense as a destination for Major League Baseball, though whether that's through expansion or relocation is up for debate. The Tampa region has never demonstrated an ability to consistently support the Rays, and now their stadium situation is even more of a mess than it already was.

Manfred has already explained he wants to find stadium fixes for existing teams before expansion, but sports organizations are always looking to grow. And MLB, as an increasingly regional league, could stand to add new, growing population centers to its portfolio.

Nashville fits that bill. So does Austin. And Salt Lake City, to a lesser extent.

With the Sounds, who rank in the top 5 in average attendance in Minor League Baseball, local fans have already demonstrated they're interested in the professional game. And the SEC has dominated college baseball for several years.

MLB would surely love to make inroads in a region traditionally dominated by football. So if and when the league does choose to get bigger, Nashville seems like the obvious choice. Nashville Stars here we come?