The county seat of Davidson County and the capital of the state of Tennessee is the city of Nashville. After Memphis, Nashville is the most populous city in the state. Nashville includes seven small municipalities in their government system and is known as the hub for a number of industries including banking, music, publishing, healthcare and transportation.
Nashville was named after the American war hero Francis Nash and was a prime railroad centre. Owing to its strategic location as a river port, Nashville continued to grow in its economic strength until the Civil War. However, the city soon reclaimed its economic position and grew even larger as a shipping and trading area together with developing a strong manufacturing base. It also continued to grow its established publishing industry and inspired the creation of fine arts. Soon, Nashville was nicknamed the Music City.
Along with its rich culture and economic standing, Nashville has additionally remained in news reports due to its sports scene. Nashville houses a number of professional sports teams; some of the notable ones being the Nashville Predators and Tennessee Titans. The Nashville Predators are definitely the areas professional ice hockey team and are a part of the Central Division of the Western Conference in the National Hockey League. They were formed in 1962 and were then referred to as the Dixie Flyers. All of the home games that they play are at the Sommet Centre which was formerly called the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
Their professional football team goes by the name of the Tennessee Titans. They belong to the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National playing in 1960. They were moved from Houston to Tennessee in 1997. They were then known as the Tennessee Oilers but modified their name to Tennessee Titans in 1999. The home field for the Tennessee Titans is the LP field.
Nashville also has a minor league baseball team which is known as the Nashville Sounds. They are a part of the Pacific Coast League and play all their home games in the Herschel Greer Stadium. This stadium was inaugurated in 1978 and can host nearly 10,000 baseball fans. This team is acknowledged as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams. This league moved through to winning several titles including the PCL Championships in 2005, the Southern League title and also the Double A of the Cincinnati Reds as well as the Double A of the New York Yankees.
Earlier called the Nashville Broncs, the Music City Starts is Nashvilles basketball team that is an expansion team of the American Basketball Association. This team began playing from the 2008-09 season and played their home games within the Nashville Municipal Auditorium but shall be moving to the Allen Arena for their games from the 2009-10 seasons. The Nashville Broncs formally changed their name to the Music City Stars during 2009 in keeping with Nashvilles strong association with the music industry.
Nashville also encourages college sports and gives its support to the teams from Vanderbilt University, Belmont University along with the Tennessee State University.
