Justin Timberlake Joins Push for Major League Baseball in Nashville
This thing is getting real!
Pop superstar Justin Timberlake has a long history of loving Nashville. The acclaimed singer/songwriter/actor already has a home here and helps put on the Pilgrimage Music Festival each year, and now he’s trying to do something else for the city — bring it a Major League Baseball team.
According to The Tennessean, Timberlake has joined a group called Music City Baseball who’s aim is to plant an MLB franchise in Nashville, and he’s dead serious about the effort.
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“I am thrilled to be involved in the movement to bring Major League Baseball to the great state of Tennessee,” he said in a statement. “I believe in Music City Baseball’s vision of linking baseball and music in a unique way to unite and entertain people and I am excited to help generate awareness throughout the community as we share our vision for bringing MLB to Music City.”
Timberlake is just the most recent connected to the cause, which has already been going on for a number of years and includes big baseball names like legendary manager Tony LaRussa, front office executive Dave Dombrowski and a host of country stars. The group’s Music Industry Advisors committee includes Kix Brooks, Kane Brown, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Larry Gatlin and others, with Timberlake coming onboard as a financial investor in the potential team.
Plans have already been drawn up for a massive stadium and mixed-use sports complex right next to Nissan Stadium, with multiple office and residential towers, plus a concert venue, a new National College Baseball Hall of Fame, a rooftop bar and more, all connected to the Pedestrian Bridge and just across the Cumberland River from Lower Broadway. The proposed team’s name would be the Nashville Stars, a reference to not only to the city’s entertainment industry, but also to one of the many Negro League baseball teams that played in Nashville from the 1930s through the ’50s.
Music City Baseball says they’ve been working to get Timberlake’s support for about six months.
“I reached out to Justin’s management group and and we’ve been working with Justin for over six months,” said group leader John Loar. “I think he’s passionate about sports and he’s interested in the entertainment angle that we’re presenting in building a world class entertainment district, which includes a ballpark. Incorporating music and sports is interesting to him.”
“For us this is huge,” added Dombrowski. “I mean (Timberlake) is somebody that’s world-known, huge in the area and the region and the state. He supports baseball and all of the other things that we stand for. Having someone like that involved speaks a lot for his interest in making this work and also gives us support in talking to other individuals of this ilk. It’s extremely important to us.”
Timberlake is also minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team.
