How Nashville’s Sports Teams are Weathering the Coronavirus Storm
The teams are feeling optimisic and continuously giving back to their home city.
When the nation’s three major spring sports leagues, the NBA, the NHL and Major League Soccer, all hit the pause button on their current seasons during the week of March 11, two Nashville teams found themselves suddenly on the sidelines. The Nashville Predators were in the middle of an up-and-down season that included a coaching change, but had finally moved up the standings into the final playoff spot with just over a dozen games left to play. The fledgling Nashville SC soccer team was still riding high from their inaugural game as a member of the MLS, an event that they celebrated in front of more than 59,000 raucous fans at Nissan Stadium. Their first two games had been nationally televised, and the scrappy young team was starting to draw notice from MLS fans.
Recently, the CEOs of the Preds and Nashville SC held an online presentation hosted by iconic local broadcaster Pete Weber to give their fans some insight into how the organizations were holding up. In a nice display of civic pride and unity, Sean Henry of the Predators and Ian Ayres from Nashville SC each wore gear from each other’s teams as they updated the community on what was happening while they were waiting for their respective seasons to potentially start up again.
Henry recognized that his team’s plight was not unique. “Pretty much every league in the world is paused,” he noted. As managers of the Bridgestone Arena, the Predators were also responsible for the SEC basketball tournament that was underway when events began to be called off. After playing the first round of games, a plan was made to perhaps complete the tournament without any fans in attendance before the entire tourney was abruptly cancelled. “We were all optimistic that some plan could work,” he recalled, “but we were just trying to figure out the safest way that it could happen. It was amazing that we had rock-solid plans set in concrete, and an hour and a half later, they totally changed.”
Henry was willing to be flexible: “We can’t be afraid to change, but I like the optimistic tone. We can’t wait to get back and entertain the people of Nashville and get back to work raising money to aid those affected by COVID-19. We’ll get back to playing; it’s just a matter of when and how we can make it safe.”
Ayres rode a rollercoaster of emotions at the beginning of his team’s season. “We played our opening game, and then the tornado hit Nashville. We had just played our first road game in Portland, and then a week later everything shut down! We’ve been doing a lot of scenario planning for different types of outcomes. Right now we’re under a training moratorium, but different countries and different sports are showing that there is a route back!”
The soccer team’s CEO had an additional complication to deal with as a couple of his players were actually displaced by the March 3 tornado that struck Middle Tennessee. “We’ve been trying to keep all of them engaged,” Ayer shared. “We’re doing daily Zoom calls and training calls. As long as we’re all safe, that’s what matters, right?”
View this post on InstagramToday was supposed to be team picture day. We did our best.
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Sean Henry also spends a lot of time keeping his team and his staff engaged during the gap in the playing schedule. He explained, “Almost all of our players are still at home here in Nashville, and they’ve been donating their time and their money to different places. They’ll be ready to go when we get going. Our staff had a 24-hour transition to work-from-home. It’s amazing what an emergency can do to you. We’ve got 300 employees who have been developing new interpersonal connections, getting to know each other better remotely. It’s actually been pretty nice.”
Both the Predators and Nashville SC have been coming up with creative ways to keep their respective fan bases engaged with the teams as well. The Preds held a virtual Fan Appreciation Night during a rebroadcast of a game from earlier this season. “We gave away player jerseys and two or three thousand other prizes,” explained Henry. “Our season ticket citizens are the backbone of the organization. Every single account has already been reached out to once, if not twice. We’re engaging all of our staff to reach out to them, more than just the sales and customer service teams. It’s amazing to hear a conversation between fans and our engineers or cleaning staff. Everybody misses hockey.”
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Nashville SC has been holding virtual happy hours with their supporters via Instagram Live on Wednesdays at 5:00. “One of our broadcasters, Jamie Watson, has been hosting, and we’re encouraging fans to enjoy some of our NSC-branded beers from our partners at Fat Bottom Brewing. The fact that I get to drink beer on a Wednesday night is another bonus!” joked Ayer.
The teams have also been reaching out to the community during the time off, with Nashville SC arranging grocery drops and boxed lunch deliveries to local musicians and restaurant workers affected by the Coronavirus crisis. The Predators have launched an “Eat with Us” initiative to shine a light on some of their advertising partners in the food and drink sphere to help them keep the doors open and their employees working. Henry added, “We’ve also been partnering with our restaurant friends to feed the front-line workers like medical staff and police. We’re encouraging our fans to leave baskets out with water and snacks for delivery drivers. It’s just our small way of saying thank you.”
Ayer and Henry are both anxious and optimistic that sports will return to Nashville, hopefully sooner than later. Henry summed up his attitude this way: “We’re planning to come out of this as a stronger organization with deeper bonds. Our city feels as if they own our team and our soccer team; there’s a special bond between us all. Now is the time to feed off of them and distract them a little bit from the darkness!”
Ayer concurred, “Sports is nothing without fans, without supporters. This is a city with real energy and real civic pride. Nashville shows up for Nashville!”
