Nashville SC is starting the 2026 season with great expectations.

Why it matters: Heading into the home opener tomorrow, team leaders have projected confidence that this could be a breakthrough year.

The big picture: General manager and president of soccer operations Mike Jacobs said last month that Nashville is developing the pedigree of a top-tier team.

• Although it stalled out in the first round of the 2025 MLS playoffs, the team won the U.S. Open Cup for the first time in club history.
• Nashville also signed free agent Cristian Espinoza, one of the league's top performers.

Between the lines: Espinoza could represent a significant upgrade for the club. Jacobs called him "the best attacking player in the league not named Lionel Messi," per the Tennessean.

• Espinoza will join established Nashville heavyweights Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge.

The latest: Leadership signaled their approval of the coaching staff ahead of the home opener, extending coach B.J. Callaghan's contract through the 2028-29 season.

• By the numbers: Last year in his first full season as head coach, Callaghan led the club to 22 wins, the most in franchise history.
• Nashville SC scored 75 goals during the season, another record-setting number for the young team.

The bottom line: Jacob says Nashville is heading into 2026 with a lot of momentum.

What he's saying: "The window of opportunity is right now for us to take advantage," Jacobs told reporters in January.

The intrigue: Some experts agree. Felipe Cardenas, a senior writer for The Athletic, selected Nashville this week as his pick to win the MLS Cup.

• Cardenas said adding Espinoza to the roster should give Nashville SC "a creative spark it desperately needs."

"Start planning the parade through Lower Broadway," he said.

If you go: The home opener against New England Revolution is tomorrow at 7:30pm. Tickets are still available starting at $24.

How to watch: If you'd rather cheer on the Boys in Gold from your couch, you can catch the game live on Apple TV+.

Share this story

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said yesterday that "the Three Stooges could have done a better job" preparing for last month's ice storm than the Nashville Electric Service leadership.

Why it matters: McNally's criticism shouldn't be dismissed as a pithy burn. Republican lawmakers want Mayor Freddie O'Connell and Metro to act quickly on NES reforms, or else they are primed to make changes themselves.

What he's saying: "We are waiting to see what Nashville does," McNally told reporters Thursday.

• "I think the [CEO] of NES needs to go. I think many of the board members need to be reexamined and possibly taken off the board and a new board formed, because there wasn't a proper response" to the storm, he said.

Friction point: At a weekly media briefing, top Senate Republicans pushed Metro to make changes to NES before the end of the legislative session.

• That's much quicker than Metro appears to be moving. O'Connell created a commission to review the city's storm response and recommend potential changes to NES.
• O'Connell gave the commission until August to submit its report, well after the end of the session in late March or early April.

Zoom out: Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson says the General Assembly should look at how NES board members are appointed.

• Republicans have taken issue with the fact that NES serves Nashville suburbs even though those municipalities don't have the ability to appoint members to the NES board of directors. Under the current setup, Nashville's mayor appoints the board members.
• "I certainly would like to look into getting diversity in representation on the board," Johnson says.

Share this story

Federal officials exaggerated the number of people with criminal records who were detained in last year's immigration enforcement surge in Nashville.

• According to a report from the Nashville Banner, federal agents competed with each other for who could detain the most immigrants. In some cases, agents wrote on people detained with a marker as a way of tracking which team made the arrest. (Nashville Banner)

Kane Brown is the latest country star to open a honky-tonk on Lower Broadway. (Nashville Business Journal, subscription)

🐯 Tennessee State men's basketball coach Nolan Smith has the Tigers primed for the postseason as March Madness approaches. (Tennessean)

Wages rose across Tennessee from 2023 to 2024, according to new federal data.

Zoom in: Personal income in Davidson County grew 6.6% year over year, per the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

By the numbers: Total countywide income sat at nearly $72.7 billion in 2024.

• Statewide, residents raked in more than $480 billion in income.

Explore other county-level data using the interactive map

Gather 'round, readers! The time has come to vie for glory.

Your quest: Reply to this email with answers to the following questions.

Your reward: We add your name to our list of champions next week.

1. Tennessee lawmakers want to join 41 other states in tightening regulations to crack down on underage sales of what kind of products?
2. What trio of colors will feature heavily at Cheekwood in Bloom this year?
3. Name one of the members of the newly formed commission that is reviewing the city's response to last month's ice storm.

👏 Please clap for last week's winners: Dale B., Sydney R., Sarah D., Ann Marie O., Todd Z., Carol L., Grace B., Paul S., Ben P., Juan Jose R., Debbie D. and Rebecca S.