Five days before Nashville Soccer Club opens its new home GEODIS Park, principal owner John Ingram announced on Tuesday that Nashville native and actor, producer and founder Reese Witherspoon, media and technology investor Jim Toth and Tennessee Titans All-Pro running back Derrick Henry have joined the team’s ownership group.

Witherspoon, Toth and Henry, who have joined as minority owners in the team, bring significant cache to the team.

GEODIS Park is the largest soccer-specific stadium in the U.S. and Canada, and has many features and attributes few other stadiums possess. The construction of the stadium is wrapping up after employing more than 6,000 people over the course of construction – 49 percent of which were women or people of color.

“As a Tennessee native, it is thrilling to see how much growth and development has come to our home state,” Witherspoon said in a statement. “One of the things that my whole family is most excited about is Nashville Soccer Club! The opportunity to go as a family and watch a world class team compete has been such an incredible experience.

“The team, the management and the players have worked so hard to build this amazing organization and community. So, I’m thrilled to announce that my husband, Jim Toth, and I have made an investment in the club and are now a part of the ownership group moving forward. On behalf of Jim and our children, we are thrilled to be a part of the NSC family!”

Henry joins the ownership group as the most recognizable sports names in Nashville at this moment. He is the fourth NFL player in history to serve as an owner of an MLS team.

“As a kid growing up in Florida, I imagined being a professional sports owner and the opportunity to do that with a Major League Soccer club is truly a dream come true,” Henry said in a statement. “My investment in Nashville SC is way more than financial, it’s truly an investment in the city of Nashville. The chance to be part of a club like Nashville SC, especially after seeing what they are accomplishing in the community, was an opportunity I did not want to miss.”

 

 

FrontRowSoccer.com editor Michael Lewis has written a new book, ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. You can learn more about it or purchase it here:

www.Rochesterlancersbook.com

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.