Justin Timberlake Wants a MLB Team in Nashville, Makes Investment to Bring in Club

Justin Timberlake, a native of Memphis, has an interest in bringing a Major League Baseball team to the city of Nashville. It was reported on Wednesday that Timberlake has made a small investment in looking to bringing a Major League Baseball team to the city, and there's a number of big names already joined to the list that could have those in baseball taking a long look at moving a team to Nashville.

It's not unusual for a celebrity who has a huge fan base to try to get involved in professional sports, and now you can add singer/actor Justin Timberlake to that list.

Timberlake, a huge baseball fan, has a vested interest in bringing a Major League Baseball team to Nashville, Tennessee according to Fox News. 

"I am thrilled to be involved in the movement to bring Major League Baseball to the great state of Tennessee,” Timberlake said Wednesday. 

When it comes to trying to get teams to cities, it always helps to have big names behind it, and Timberlake is the first to join the group which is known as "Music City Baseball."

From a baseball perspective, the big name of the group is former Boston Red Sox and Miami Marlins executive Dave Dombrowski. 

Dombrowski has multiple World Series titles, winning one each with the Marlins and Red Sox. 

John Loar is the managing director of the group, his bio reads that he "is responsible for all day-to-day business operations of MCB. He has 30 years of experience in the real estate development, sports and entertainment fields."

Another big name involved in the group is former Oakland A's pitcher and three-time World Series champion pitcher Dave Stewart. Another name on the list who is a board member is Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

The team in Nashville, known already as the "Stars," could be the very first Major League team whose majority is Black-owned.

Back to Timberlake, the native of Memphis purchased a small part of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies back in 2012.

When it comes to being in baseball movies, he was one of the stars of the Clint Eastwood movie "Trouble with the Curve," where Eastwood played a scout back in 2012.

Rumblings over the years have a number of teams who have had issues drawing fans possibly looking to re-locate.

One being the Tampa Bay Rays, who despite being in first in the AL East this season in the past have played to mostly empty seats. 

Last season they drew 14,552 per game. The Miami Marlins are another team that has had issues drawing, last season bringing in a MLB low 10,016 per home game.

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For more from Matt Loede, follow him on Twitter @MattLoede. Follow CBI on Twitter @IndiansonSI


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Matt Loede
MATT LOEDE

Matt Loede has been a part of the Cleveland Sports Media for 26 years, with experience covering Major League Baseball, the NBA & NFL and even high school and college events. He has been a part of the daily media covering the Cleveland Indians since the opening of Jacobs/Progressive Field in 1994, and spent two and a half years covering the team for 92.3FM The Fan, and covers them daily for Associated Press Radio. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattLoede