Michael Strahan 0:00

You've chosen to share some personal uh uh news today, and it takes a tremendous amount of courage to share it. What would you like for people to know?

Chris Johnson 0:09

First, I want people to know that I'm still mean. ALS has changed what my body can do, but it hasn't changed who I am.

Michael Strahan 0:18

In 2025, at the age of 39, Johnson was diagnosed with ALS, the disease progressing so rapidly that he now uses his eyes to trigger speech-generating devices to speak. Why do you want to share this now?

Chris Johnson 0:32

Because if sharing my story helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research, or gives another family hope, then it's

Intro

Chris Johnson 0:43

working.

Russell Ries 1:23

He has been diagnosed with ALS that is progressing rapidly. I was floored and heartbroken when this news came out, like I'm sure many of you were. Chris Johnson was a very special football player. Everything that can be said about him is superlative, the fastest, the most exciting, the most dangerous. He was a talent so special that we all understood the greatness we were witnessing as we witnessed it. There are very few Titans players and frankly NFL players in general for which that can be said. Which is why it was so incredibly jarring to see how rapidly the disease has laid him low. Still, I think we should all celebrate the bravery and courage he is exemplifying through this fight with ALS and in making his struggle public. That he would think of others during a time that must be incredibly scary for himself and his family, exhibits a level of love and strength of character that is on par with or exceeds his athletic greatness. Chris Johnson truly is one of the greatest Tennessee Titans of all time, both on and off the field. And I hope that the organization is taking steps to honor him in some fashion during this upcoming season. I certainly believe he is worthy of it, and I imagine the Titans do too. If you would like to donate to the fight against ALS, I will put a link to the ALS Association in the description of this episode. Now on to other news from this week in Nashville Sports. The Titans announce the training camp dates, which will be open to the public this year. They are Saturday, August 1st, Monday, August 3rd, Tuesday, August 4th, Sunday, August 9th, Monday, August 17th, Friday, August 21st, which will be a joint practice with the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, and Thursday, August 27th, which will be a joint practice with the Chicago Bears. Tickets for those practices will be made available online on Wednesday, July 15th at 10 a.m. The Titans will also be hosting their blue and white scrimmage at Nissan Stadium on Friday, August 9th. Gates will open at 5 p.m. and the scrimmage should start around 6.30. It was a very busy week for the Nashville Predators. On Saturday, they completed the NHL draft, selecting four more players, while also trading a prospect and their fifth-round pick to the New York Rangers or forward Adam Edstrom. That same day, the news came out that the Preds had signed newly acquired center Jack Drury to a five-year, $22.5 million contract. On Tuesday, the Preds acquired forward Niels Hoglander from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2029 third-round pick. Wednesday was the beginning of free agency in the NHL and the start of the Predators Development Camp. Development Camp brought together all the Preds' draft picks from last weekend, plus other young players in their development pipeline, and culminated in their future stars game on Friday afternoon. Also on Wednesday, the Preds signed veteran forward Alexander Kerfoot to a two-year deal. And they made yet another trade, this time sending a 2027 second round pick and a 2028 third round pick to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Maverick Bork and defenseman Ilya Lubushkin. Ork was the centerpiece of the deal and should immediately slot into the Preds second line. I would not be surprised if they also announce an extension for him sometime in the near future. However, all this wheeling and dealing leaves the Preds with a glut of forwards, and it seems likely that they will probably need to ship at least one player out sometime soon in order for the numbers to make sense. It will be interesting to see who that might be and what the return could be. All these trades have allowed GM Chris McFarland to begin shaping the roster to his liking, and they mean that many of the Preds' younger prospects will remain in Milwaukee a little bit longer than previously expected. That's probably a good thing as it gives those players a greater chance to play meaningful hockey and hopefully force their way onto the Pred's roster sometime down the road. The trades also serve to add some middle-aged, in hockey terms, players to the roster. Last season Nashville had a bunch of 30 plus veterans and a bunch of younger kids, but they didn't have many players entering or in the middle of their prime years. These trades address that. Ross Colton is 29, Jack Drury is 26, Niels Hoglander is 25, Adam Edstrom is also 25, and Maverick Bork is 24. They can play now, but also grow with the younger core of players as those prospects begin to arrive in the NHL. It should give the Preds some continuity which was previously lacking from their roster. All in all, it was a whirlwind of a week which saw the predators make significant changes without giving up many of the top prospects. It gives a glimpse of what this team might look like this season and where they might head in the future. Surely it was one of the more consequential weeks in recent Predators' history. And speaking of history, the United States men's national team made some in the World Cup on Wednesday night, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina in a first round knockout 2-0. This is only the second time in their history that the U.S. men have won a knockout game at the World Cup. They will go for win number three when they face past World Cup boogeyman Belgium in Seattle on Tuesday night, and they will have to do so without their leading scorer, Florian Balagun, who was shown a red card last match and will be suspended for this one as a result. Still, the U.S. have enough firepower on their squad that they should be competitive against a Belgium team which has looked flat for most of this tournament. That game starts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night and can be seen on Fox. Finally, the Nashville Sounds are currently 47 and 37 and three games back with the Memphis Redbirds for the division lead. They are currently in the middle of a six-game home series against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, with remaining games tonight and tomorrow evening starting at 6.05 p.m. Next week they head to North Carolina for a six-game series against the Charlotte Knights.

Nancy Schultz introduction

Russell Ries 7:18

My guest this week is Nancy Schultz. Nancy is a longtime Nashville and successful business executive. She and her family have been involved in many aspects of Nashville sports for the better part of three decades. She currently serves on the board of Music City Baseball, the group behind the Nashville Stars, and the push to bring Major League Baseball to Nashville. I had a very interesting conversation with Nancy about that endeavor and her connection to sports in Nashville. And I know I came away from our talk a lot more excited and knowledgeable about the effort to get the MLB to Tennessee. I hope you enjoy my discussion with Nancy Schultz as much as I

Nancy Schultz Interview

Russell Ries 7:54

did. Nancy, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show with me. I'm going to start you off with the same questions that I ask everybody who comes on the podcast, starting with what is your favorite sport to play?

Nancy Schultz 8:09

Well, first of all, thank you, Russell, for having me. I'm excited to spend some time with you this afternoon. But my favorite sport to play is tennis. So I actually grew up playing tennis. My dad got my I have two brothers. I'm the oldest. Started in New Jersey, probably at the age of three or four. And my brothers both went on to play in college, one at Richmond and one at South Carolina. And but I've always kept up the sport. And now in my retirement, I'm back playing quite a bit. And we actually just got back from Southern Sectionals. So we ended up winning it. We're going on to the nationals. So it's a great sport and one you can play your whole life.

Russell Ries 8:42

Congratulations on that victory. That's so exciting. What's the name of the organization you play with?

Nancy Schultz 8:47

Yeah, it's a USTA team, 55 and up. We have a great group of women.

Russell Ries 8:52

That's so cool. Well, again, congratulations. Moving right along, then what is your favorite sport to watch?

Nancy Schultz 8:57

I love to watch football. I grew up around New York. So I grew up a New York Giants fan. And we would go to Giants games when they went head to head against the Jets. It was always fun. And my husband in his second career ended up coaching football as well as baseball, as our boys were pursuing their baseball careers. And I love just watching the plays unfold from a football standpoint and just the thrill of watching a game and being at a game. So that's always been kind of a family favorite.

Russell Ries 9:26

Nice. Are you still a Giants fan or have we uh won you over here with the Titans?

Nancy Schultz 9:31

Well, I am a very much a Titans fan just because we you know raised the boys on the Titans, and my husband has been on the sports council board for many years, so helped bring them to Nashville. Definitely a Titans fan, but still the Giants is still part of my heart.

Russell Ries 9:44

Totally understandable. And I think it's more than acceptable to have multiple rooting interests, personally. Well, and that leads into another question, which is what is your earliest sports memory?

Nancy Schultz 9:54

Well, I would say going to a Giants game, you know, very, very early and young. My dad was always a big sports fan. So I would say going to a Giants game as well as a New York Rangers game. I remember going into the city. My brothers and I used to play pond hockey. So I think I had hockey skates before I had figure skates. And so also going to a Rangers game at Madison Square Garden. You know, growing up around New York, we had a lot of access to sports. And so it was very much a big part of our family outings.

Russell Ries 10:24

Growing up in New York, how did you end up down here in Nashville?

Nancy Schultz 10:27

Good question. I, you know, I was always good in high school, I was good with math and science. And I had a guidance counselor, Miss Verallo. She said, Why don't you think about engineering? And I was like, Well, what's engineering? And I always thought I wanted to be a doctor, go into medicine, because I enjoyed isn't the right word, but you know, fetal pig and dissecting the frog were kind of interesting. And so started looking at engineering schools. So applied to Duke and Vanderbilt. I thought I wanted to go south. My family, we were big tennis players. So I would go to Hilton Head and play in some tournaments in the summertime, and met a family from Vanderbilt. So started looking at Vanderbilt's engineering school also. They had a good, a great school. It was in the south. I wanted to try something different than most of my high school friends were going to the northeast, applied to Vandy and got in. And so I arrived in 82 and we're still here. I met my husband at Vanderbilt. We were in the same class and never looked back. Came in 82 and have raised our family here.

Russell Ries 11:24

I think Vanderbilt has done a Nashville a great service in that way, bringing lots of people who end up sort of establishing lives and careers here. And absolutely. Well, now that you are a Nashville and you've mentioned being involved and your husband involved in the sports council, do you have a particular favorite Nashville sports team if you had to pick?

Nancy Schultz 11:41

You know, I think it would be the Titans, just because I love football. I remember when, you know, we first uh we had signs in our our yards, you know, say yes to football and bringing a team and when the oilers were thinking about relocating. And because Walter was on the sports council board, we had a lot of information it was as it was coming. So, you know, we went and watched him play at Tupelo, the Liberty Bowl, or went to Tupelo, played at the Liberty Bowl outside of Memphis. And then I remember when they played at Vanderbilt for a season as we were building our stadium and the name change and all that kind of stuff. And you know, my kids have grown up on the Titans also from McNair and Eddie George and White, you know, our family kind of was raised around that era of the Titans. Yeah, just uh it's a great way to kind of bring the city together. And it's just been electric and you know, even just getting our new quarterback or turning it around. Everybody has every business has a cycle, and I would say a sports team has a cycle. So we're we're gonna come back to some glory days.

Russell Ries 12:42

Yeah, I think you're right. You know, I kind of envy people in your son's generation, a little bit younger than myself, who got to have sort of the full childhood experience of having the Titans here because they moved to Vanderbilt when I was 15. You know, I got in there and I was already a sports fan, but now with my own son, I get to think about oh, he's gonna grow up with Cam Ward as his quarterback of his childhood and what how special that is. And it's a really neat thing that you guys got to be involved in bringing it to town. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Given that, what would you say is your favorite Nashville sports memory or moment?

Nancy Schultz 13:14

You know, I would say it would be the the Stanley Cup run for the predators. And so our kids were in high school at that point, and we have four season tickets with another family. They have two boys also. We have two sons, 27 and 25. But, you know, during that run, they were in high school and you know, and driving. And so the four boys literally were at every game. And, you know, some of these games, depending on TV coverage, started at, you know, 8:39 at night. They'd come in. I could hear them coming in at 1.30 in the morning and had to go to school the next day. But just watching downtown and, you know, that Stanley Cup run put just the experience of sports in a city, you know, whether you had a ticket or not, it didn't matter. I mean, you you brought your lawn chair and we had, you know, it's somewhere of a different. We know how to do it because of our music industry, I think, too. And we played off of that and screens everywhere, and it was just magical, you know, and we were right at the goal line, literally. And it was just a great experience for us as a family as well as as a city.

Russell Ries 14:20

That's such a great point about the role the music industry played in it. And I think too, that run really opened eyes nationally to what else Nashville could be and sort of led into the draft coming here later on and some of the other things we've seen down the line.

Nancy Schultz 14:33

Exactly. Yeah. Broadway doesn't have to just be about the long neck beer and the and the music, you know, the combination of the sports, the power of combining them all has been magical for our city, I think. And and and more to come. We are on the map.

Russell Ries 14:47

Absolutely. And it's amazing, you know, there's obviously the bachelorette party sort of stereotype, but you run into visiting fans at Pred's games and to realize that this is one of those destinations where they circle Nashville away games on the schedule when it comes out because it is so appealing to everyone. And I think that's something we kind of take for granted here in town, maybe a little bit. Absolutely. All right. Well, moving right along to my next question, which is who would you put on your Mount Rushmore of Nashville sports?

Nancy Schultz 15:15

Such a good question. You know, I think definitely Steve McNair. You know, I think of the our boys and just even cleaning out closets. We had every jersey you can imagine. But, you know, just his leadership and bringing the team together and Super Bowl run and that type thing. I would say Brant Snedeker, he's a member of our country club, and just, you know, just his story and coming through high school and getting to Vanderbilt and support and now seeing him with his family and practicing at our club. Mikey Stromsky. Mike is a good family friend. He married one of my girlfriend's daughters. And, you know, just his playing at Vanderbilt and then getting drafted to the Orioles into the Giants. Now he's with the Braves. So we followed his career. So, you know, not a Nashville boy born and raised here, but you know, definitely came up through his career at Vanderbilt and seeing that maturity and then getting getting into the pros and having a great experience. Well, and then Pekka Renee, I would say, you know, Pekka was, you know, just an incredible goalie for the predators. And as a family, we we just watched his career, you know, when he came here and all the contributions. And Soros is great now, but you know, we just spent a lot of time, the four of us, going to those games as the kids were growing up. So he still has a special place in our hearts.

Russell Ries 16:36

Well, those are wonderful answers. And Steve McNair and Pecarina seem to have been consistent through everyone's answers. But Brent Snedeker and Mike Yoskrimsky are I love those answers. Those are some great angles on Nashville sports that maybe don't get the kind of recognition that we often hear about with the professional teams, but some individuals who have come through or come out of here and gone on to really great things. So I really like those answers.

Nancy Schultz 16:58

Those are absolutely and and still living here. I don't know if Peck is still here, but you know, Mike's raising his family here and Brant's raising his family, and they still go to Vanderbilt and use the locker room. You know, Corbin has pulled in talent and all the sports have. And yeah, it's just you create those relationships and that engagement, and then they want to stay in your city, you know, like all these professional athletes come to Nashville and then they never want to leave. They get traded and their families stay here. Well, that says something about our city.

Russell Ries 17:29

That's such a good point. You know, I think Tim Corbin deserves a lot of recognition for what he's done building the Vandy Boys up, but also that aspect of bringing back the former players and keeping them connected. I think that a lot of what Vanderbilt's doing now and other sports is sort of modeled off of what he has sort of led the way with how he's built that program. So on the other side of it, do you have any Nashville sports conspiracy theories or hot takes you'd like to share?

Nancy Schultz 17:55

Oh, golly. That was a tough one. I was trying to think conspiracy theories. I don't know. Sports drama or that type thing.

Russell Ries 18:03

Yeah, or just anything that maybe you know you might be the tenth out of 10 dentists, the other nine disagree kind of thing.

Nancy Schultz 18:09

Uh-huh. I don't know. Let's come back to that one. I didn't really, I couldn't think. I mean, I remember, oh, what was that quarterback's name? Vince. Oh, Vince Young. And I mean, that was more just a bust, if you will. You know, I just remember him throwing his pads into the stands at the game. We were there, and I'm like, what? So you just see some are real leaders on the field and some aren't. So that was more maybe drama of sports, if you will. But I'll I'll noodle on that one from a conspiracy theory standpoint.

Russell Ries 18:39

All right. You bring up Vince Young. I happen to believe one underappreciated aspect, maybe that's not the right word, but one unthought-of aspect of the death of Steve McNair is I think that Vince Young lost the mentor that he had in Steve. Vince and Steve McNair were connected well before Vince got drafted to the Titans. You know, there were some other things that happened with him and and his athletic ability being so great that he never had to kind of learn the nuances of the game. But I do think that losing that sort of guidepost and that grounding that he had with Steve McNair really was a major undoing for his time in Nashville.

Nancy Schultz 19:15

Really good point, Russell. And the whole thing was just tragic. But yeah, you think of then the ripple effect of others that he was mentoring. So yeah.

Russell Ries 19:24

I was in college during first the 2003, I want to say, Rose Bowl, which I still think is probably the greatest individual performance I've ever seen in a football game. Vince putting Texas on his back and beating that stacked USC team. And I remember just being super excited about him him coming to Nashville. You know, it really felt like we were moving into that next era. But yeah, a lot of what-ifs there with Vince Young. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, a little pivot from my sports-related questions. I like to ask everybody, what is your favorite restaurant in Nashville?

Nancy Schultz 19:56

Well, I got I have two answers to that. First of all, as a family, we always went to McCabe's pub. So McCabe Pub in Sullivan Park was just kind of our go-to literally every Friday night. I think I went into labor there with our first son. We were back the next week. So we knew the bartenders and the wait staff and the owners, and so that's closed. But we also our our new favorite is NOCO, NOKO. So we've gotten it's an Asian fusion restaurant for restaurateurs, came up from Atlanta and created that and just fabulous over in East Nashville. So that's kind of our our new go-to, no go.

Russell Ries 20:34

Oh, that's awesome. I've not heard of that. N-O-K-O, you say. No cool. N O K O.

Nancy Schultz 20:39

Yep. And John is the main owner at the front door, and Junior, he's the co the chef. And then they just opened an Amakase sister restaurant right next door. And so that's Kase Noco, K-A-S-E, N-O-K-O. And so that's kind of a prefixed sushi menu. But just fabulous owners. And then they actually, I'm on the board of National Children's Alliance, which is physically and sexually abused children. I've been on the board for about 15 years. And when they came to town, they were looking for a charity to engage with and support. And so they found us. We got a call. The president, the CEO, and myself met with them when they were building out the restaurant. And so National Children's Alliance is at the bottom of both the restaurant menus. And so we get a certain percentage of profits. And they're about to open their third restaurant on West End. They bought the Tin Angel Old Building. So Junior, the chef, is Korean. It's going to be a Korean steakhouse.

Russell Ries 21:38

Oh my gosh, you're just making all my dreams come true, telling me that. And what a brilliant thing, too. I really you sold me on Asian Fusion and the Kase and all that and Korean Steakhouse. But I really love that they proactively went out and found such a good cause to support and ingratiated themselves in the community. I think that's such a valuable thing to be doing when businesses. Kind of overlook that nowadays in Nashville. Like people see us as the cash cow, but they don't maybe recognize that there are a lot of good causes here in Nashville. And twice, twice the reason to go support all those restaurants. They sound amazing.

Nancy Schultz 22:11

Oh, yeah. Well, and I'll add to that, Russell. In April, National Children's Alliance does we do our big event in the community. It's called Dine to Shine. And we kind of created it around the NOCO leadership. And so they go out and bring in, I gosh, we had about 20 restaurant tours this year. And so you pay to buy a table or a ticket or whatever. And so we had about a seating for about 250 people. All the food by these 20 restaurants are donated. And so it was kind of family style this year. But NOCO kind of they organized the whole thing. And they're it's all food made right at the event space. And so they raised over $300,000 net for National Children's Alliance for children. And you know, unfortunately, we have a wait list of children that children tell their story, so they only have to tell it once. It's admissible in court. But then after that, we do the therapy also. And so we got to get these kids off the wait list for their therapy. And yeah, no go made such a huge difference. They do every year, but we crushed it this year. It was amazing.

Russell Ries 23:14

That is amazing. And my hat's off to them and to you. And if anyone listening wants to get involved and help support the Nashville Children's Alliance, what would be the best way for them to do that?

Nancy Schultz 23:24

Well, if you just go to our website, National Children's Alliance.org, there's an opportunity there to come and have a visit. We're part of the Family Safety Center. Diane Lance runs that, which is connected directly with the police and detectives. And so it's all under one roof. And the whole thing and domestic violence sits under there. And so men, women, children who are victims of abuse have a place to go. We can house people for a night or two just to get them off the street, get them out of their situation. Nashville Children's Alliance.org.

Russell Ries 23:57

That's an incredibly worthwhile organization. I will make sure to link that information in the description of this podcast as well. Thank you so much for doing that and for the work you guys are doing there. Okay, it's gonna be hard to pivot off of something as worthwhile and as important as that back into sports, but this is a sports podcast, and that's what I do. So you mentioned earlier the Nashville Stars, and you are involved with the Music City Baseball Organization. Can you tell me, before we get into talking about that, a little bit about your background? You mentioned your husband coached baseball. I believe both your sons have played a pretty high level. Can you uh give us a little information about that?

Nancy Schultz 24:36

Absolutely. So, yes, our family just loves baseball. My husband pitched at Vanderbilt years ago and prayed for athletic children. So he got two of them. We have two boys, like I said, 27 and 25. And Walter always coached them. They played all sports growing up, but baseball kind of bubbled to the top. And they played in high school, played the travel ball, they played for the Knights organization, and they played football in high school too. So we did the whole travel scene for both of them. We were between the four of us, we were on the road all the time. And then Chandler pitched at Belmont. So he went more pitcher only in college and had a great career there. And Garrett was our center fielder at Xavier up in Cincinnati. You know, we just always had a love for baseball as a family. And Walter and I enjoyed crisscrossing the country, watching them play, especially at the Division I level in college. That was just an absolute joy for us as a family. But then as Music City Baseball was forming as a company, John Lohr is our CEO or managing director of Music City Baseball, was directed by Commissioner Manfred to look at expansion. And MLB has not expanded in over 23 years, I think it is now. So they are looking at expansion. It would be an expansion of two teams. So John Lohr came to town to research Nashville pre-COVID. So it's, you know, over six years ago. Nashville was, you know, I don't remember what year the NFL draft was, but we had had the, you know, the run for the Stanley Cup. And so definitely a lot going on here just from corporations moving here. I mean, as I say, even during COVID, we never we maybe shut down for 60 days, you know, and then we slowly started opening back up, but the 48 cranes never came down. Music City Baseball had formed as a loose confederacy of leaders and then investors. And so Walter and I were in approach to be an investor first. And we met with the team and we're like, oh, okay, this sounds interesting. So we invested first, and then I got pulled into being on the board as well as the executive committee. And then Walter, my husband, sits on the advisory board with Coach Corbin and Coach Jarvis from Belmont. So yeah, so we kind of started as investors and now we're we're all in working on this endeavor to bring MLB to Nashville.

Russell Ries 26:52

What is this sort of like I guess it's not a day-to-day, but what is Music City baseball kind of currently doing? I know that recently Commissioner Manfred said that Nashville and I think Salt Lake City are two very appealing and attractive places, but what is it that the organization does now to kind of help spread the message and get people excited about baseball and help draw that in?

Nancy Schultz 27:13

Great, great question. You know, I mean it's been it's been a long journey, though. You know, COVID hit. We had the collective bargaining agreement always has to be renegotiated every X years. You know, there were there were a lot of kind of stops and starts along the way. So it definitely has been a journey. But we have a small staff of about five people. Like I said, John Lohr is our managing director. We hired Will General from Red Bull about two years ago. So he's our chief marketing officer. It's really been interesting. Our organization is called Music City Baseball. That's kind of the legal entity, but we have named the team already, even though we don't have the nod quite yet. But the Nashville Stars was the original Negro League team in Nashville. So Jackie Robinson didn't play on the Nashville Stars, but he played against them and came through Nashville. Sulfordell, where the Sound Stadium sits, is the land where the Nashville Stars actually played. And if you've been to the Sounds game, you'll behind center field, you see the plaque and more of a monument to that era of baseball. And, you know, even just the Jefferson corridor of some of the jazz clubs and blues clubs that were along there. And they were there before our honky tonks on Broadway. The players on the National Stars owned those jazz clubs. There's a fabulous book called Night Train to Nashville. And it's really the history of the Jefferson Corridor, the LNC Tower, how advertisement, night advertisement pulled in the black community. Those were where some of the ads were, and then how things just kept evolving from a diverse standpoint within diversity within Nashville. So very, very powerful. And so we're tying into that history. We've partnered with Bob Kendrick, who's on our board, who runs the Negro League Museum in Kansas City. So our goal is to have a satellite Negro League museum in our stadium. And so, you know, the day to day, we've got a small, small staff, and then I volunteer my time. So we we've got a lot of good working committees, if you will. It's a it's a working board, it's working committees. You know, we're looking at land. So our goal, uh Lincoln Properties out of Dallas is our commercial real estate partner. And so our goal is to secure land. We bid on the PSA Metal site, which is the when you go over the walking bridge from downtown Nashville and hang a right, the PSA Metal site is there, Titans to the left. Our goal was to put it right on the East Bank, but unfortunately, we we did not get the nod for that. So we're looking at some other sites around town, met with Oracle. Oracle has quite a bit of land, so on the on the East Bank. And so that's a possibility. It's kind of across from Germantown. So yeah, we we've got a lot of you know, irons in the fire. So real estate is definitely one of them. Continuing with investors, you know, we'll have to find a general partner, if you will. I mean, it's a it's basically a $9 billion endeavor. So $3 billion franchise fee, roughly. You know, you've got the Dodgers at 10 point something billion, Yankees 9.8 billion, all the way down to whatever the lowest one is at 1.7 or so. So roughly $3.7 billion will have to pay that franchise fee upfront payment, which will be split between the MLB and the 30 current owners. There's 30 owners, so it'd be expansion to 32 teams. And then roughly $3 billion to build the entertainment, it'll be an entertainment center, not just a stadium. We have several entertainers that are investors as well as helping us design it. Our goal is for it to be acoustically perfect so that we can have residencies. You think about Celine Dion, she was one of the first residencies, but it was in Vegas, and she had to fly from Canada to Vegas with her family. And, you know, it's not easy to do that. We have so many stars that live in Nashville, and we we want to book out this entertainment center. They're gonna be 65 days a year. You know, there's roughly 84 home games. The goal is to kind of combine that entertainment. You know, sports is an entertainment, but combined with the music industry. So we're we're working on the design. We've partnered with Populous who designed the Sydney Opera House. And so we have some initial designs. We've toured Astros Stadium and the Rangers and the Nationals and, of course, the Braves. You know, our goal would be to create a bit of a battery. So there'd be hotels and apartments and condos and retail and restaurants and you know, a whole entertainment district, if you will. So we have so many different lanes that we continue to work with on a weekly, monthly basis. The bid should come out. So we've got the collective bargaining agreement negotiations. They've they've started loosely, but that will start in earnest right after the World Series. So November will hit it hard. And so hopefully we'll get all that resolved before opening day in March. That's the goal, you know, and avoid a strike or a delay of opening day. And then once that happens, their expansion committee will be formed. They've talked about it at their annual meetings of all the owners, which is in early December every year. It's been hosted in Nashville several times lately. And from what we know, the owners are in favor. The ROI is is very strong. And it's it's funny, one of the the biggest I learned, one of the biggest ROI line items is betting. Baseball is one of the biggest sports that you can bet on. From what pitch is coming to where it's going to be hit to the score or whatever. So I don't know anything about betting, but there it's a it's a rich ROI to expand to two new teams, as well as just the franchise fee. So that initial up front.

Russell Ries 33:15

Well, that's so exciting to hear, and I love how big you guys are thinking of referencing the Sydney Opera House or bringing over the gentlemen from Red Bull who have obviously tons and tons of experience, not just in marketing, but with marketing sports franchises. It seems like you guys really have your eyes set on a very large prize and making something that is just completely unique and special. Obviously, there's a lot of moving parts, but as somebody who's interested and wants to follow along, how long would it be before sort of the expansion is announced to potentially having the team actually playing games here in town?

Nancy Schultz 33:50

Good question. Commissioner Manfred's tenure will end in 29. I think his goal is, and I don't want to speak for him, but you know, we've had some meetings with him as well as his team. You know, the goal would be to at least have expansion resolved, you know, whether we'd have first pitch and ideally the two cities would be selected. You know, do you do something similar to how the Titans played at the Liberty Bowl first and then at Bandy Stadium? Yeah, it's going to take us a couple of years to build the stadium. Although John Ingram and David Dill and their team built that soccer stadium pretty darn quick. And John Ingram and David Dill have been great advisors to our team, just how to navigate a lot of things and get things done quickly. So the goal would be that the after the collective bargaining agreement, the expansion committee will be formed by Commissioner Manfred. It'll have some current owners on it, obviously. And then, you know, what the timing would be. I mean, we have we have our response, you know, in pretty good order right now. And, you know, we're trying to secure the land and you know, so we have all facets of who, what, where, when, when, you know, why, and and kind of create that story also, because we do the the National Stars IP is owned by Music City's baseball. And, you know, the general partner may not want to name it the National Stars, but our our goal is to pay homage to the Negro League team. I think it's an incredible connection to MLB. And so I think the whole storyline plays really well. So we're hopeful that as the and you know, another way to do it, we probably will have a general partner and from an ownership standpoint, but you know, you could do a Green Bay Packer model where the people of Nashville own the team. So, you know, I think there's a lot of different ways it could be sliced. So to be determined, obviously. But hopefully, you know, they then it would be maybe early, sometime in 28, where they would select the two expansion teams. And then at that point, it's go time. It takes a while, obviously, to build an entertainment center. So, but I think there's ways we can get creative where the and yeah, we've thought about, I know the NHL does a lottery. If you remember Vegas' first team, we I think the Predators had to donate, I don't pick a number, two to four players. So I think we'd probably do a lottery type thing in that regard, as well as we'd have to, one of the first things would be to stand up the whole minor league stack, you know, for rookie ball all the way through to AAA. So a lot of work to be done.

Russell Ries 36:26

Yeah, I do wonder what that would mean, sort of for the Nashville Sounds and their future here in town, if suddenly there was a big league club playing around the corner. But I guess those are questions that can be asked later. I love what you're saying about potentially Green Bay Packers model. If that's the case, please allow me to be the first one to offer up some money. I I will be there with bells on. My guest last week, my cousin Will Dawsett, when I asked him about conspiracy theories or hot takes, he said public ownership of all teams. To hear you say that is exciting.

Nancy Schultz 36:55

I love it.

Russell Ries 36:56

Yeah. Along those same lines with the Nashville Stars, I really do hope whoever is the general partner will keep that. I have seen you have some gear out and it's got that really cool NS logo. Was that the original Nashville Stars logo or is that a redesign or that's the original, you know.

Nancy Schultz 37:12

I mean, we've we've taken some jurisdiction and some creativity with some of the colors, and actually I've got one here on the counter, you know, more of the Fourth of July version and and that type thing. And Will General's done a great job. And and I will tell you, since he took over as our chief marketing officer, and you'll have to come by, our headquarters is on 30th Avenue South. The street dead ends in the bricktops, right on West End Avenue. And so we have a whole store in the lobby, and so we have merchandise that has been sold in 37 countries, and we have outperformed most of the MLB teams as far as social media and following. And so for a team that or a city that doesn't even have the team yet, and we have a lot of supporters. Anyway, it's just been interesting just to see the following and the passion around the story behind it. You know, I mean, it's not just a made-up name, and you know, we are using, we own as a company, Music City Baseball, the intellectual property around the Nash Stars. So we've partnered with the Negro League Museum on that.

Russell Ries 38:17

So people can come down to the store on 30th. Yep, share headquarters. They could also, I assume, purchase online somewhere.

Nancy Schultz 38:25

Yes. And you can go to Nashville Stars and go to our website.

Russell Ries 38:29

And social media wise, all the big hitters, Twitter, Instagram, those sorts of things.

Nancy Schultz 38:34

Yes. Instagram is probably one of the biggest ones. So yeah, follow us for sure, Nashville Stars on Instagram. And we're we're posting out there just about every day.

Russell Ries 38:44

That's exciting. I also get the uh weekly email blast that gets sent out from you guys. They've done a great job of staying on top of some of the other developments in Nashville. So sometimes I get my general Nashville news from Music City Baseball.

Nancy Schultz 38:56

Oh, yeah. We have a fabulous team. They're always trying to do research and tie into, you know, just like your podcast here, sports in general in Nashville. So always give credit to our great city and all we've got going on here from high school to college to professional.

Russell Ries 39:13

So outside of potentially buying stock in the future and picking up some merchandise, what is the best way that people in Nashville or people in 36 other countries can support the organization and their goal of bringing the team to Nashville?

Nancy Schultz 39:26

Yeah, I think just, you know, continue to follow us. I mean, as as the the bid comes out, you'll you'll hear a lot more. We we had a big opening day at category 10, which is Luke Combs' um new bar on second. So Ryman Hospitality Properties has been a great partner of ours. And we hosted it there in the sports bar and probably had one of the biggest opening days, again, for a team that doesn't exist. You know, just follow us on Instagram and through the our website, you can sign up for the email that you're talking about. And we have a weekly blast. It'll give you updates on the process and as the bid comes out and as we respond to the proposal. You know, we'll keep you posted more and more on how you know you can get involved. But also just, you know, we'll have more events as things get going. And and then once we win the win the nod, not if when, it'll be all hands on deck, and we'll need people to help, even from a volunteer standpoint, as well as there'll be job opportunities. I mean, this is going to be an organization, there'll be the baseball organization to stand up, as well as the entertainment center. And, you know, you think of like the Bridgestone and the and and Nissan Stadium. I mean, those have the Titans and they have the Predars Organization. So that has a job or stack, if you will, organizational chart. But then the entertainment center aspect, that's a whole different team. You know, I mean, you know, Bridgestone, they want to book that thing 365 days a year. So yeah, there'll be so many incredible job opportunities and partnerships. You know, I mean, there'll be obviously full-time positions, but then you think of all the partners to put a team on the field, to put a concert in the entertainment center, and even just to build the entertainment center, design and build it. A lot of opportunity coming.

Russell Ries 41:16

To think back to, you know, you mentioned the NFL Yes campaign in the mid-90s when we had the sounds out at Greer Stadium and we had empty Dudley Field, some decent Vandy basketball teams there in the early 90s. But to think that we've gone from that to literally the big leagues, I do want to encourage everyone listening to get on the bus now. Then you can say you were here well before. Go out, get some gear. I'll I'll try and get down there and get some myself once my wife will let me. She reigns me in on purchases of sports-related stuff.

Nancy Schultz 41:46

But that's good.

Russell Ries 41:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so exciting to hear all about this. And before we wrap up, is there anything else you think our listeners should know or anything else you want to share?

Nancy Schultz 41:56

Well, I just appreciate the opportunity, Russell, just to talk about sports in general and then also talk about the Nashville stars and our our journey to bring MLB to Nashville. So thank you for the opportunity. And please follow us. Let's get you involved now.

Russell Ries 42:09

Absolutely. You're very welcome. I'd love to have you back anytime. Thank you so much for making the time to do this. I can't wait to see the stars on the field one day.

Nancy Schultz 42:17

Fabulous. Thank you, Russell.

Russell Ries 42:19

Thank

Outro

Russell Ries 42:20

you. Okay, that's our show for this week. My thanks again to Nancy Schultz of Music City Baseball and the Nashville Stars. A reminder that all reference links can be found in the description below. We invite you to support the ALS Association and the Nashville Children's Alliance. If you want to reach out to us, we can be found on Twitter and Blue Sky at NSH Sports Report. You can also click the link in the description to reach out to us. Love to talk to you. Happy Fourth of July to all. Hope you have a happy and safe weekend.