Nashville SC Announces Renasant Bank as Inaugural MLS Jersey Sponsor

Nashville SC announced a partnership with Renasant Bank who will become the team’s inaugural MLS shirt sponsor, taking over from Nissan. Renasant Bank is a Tupelo based financial services institution with assets of approximately $13 billion operating about 200 offices in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. As you can see in the picture below they don’t have a huge presence in Nashville. A few weeks ago the bank announced it will build a $16 million regional headquarters in Memphis. While a fine sponsor it is a bit odd a club that preaches “uniquely Nashville” didn’t find a sponsor more connected to the Music City. It’s most likely due to the fact that Renasant Bank former Chairman and CEO, Rick Hart, is/was a neighbor of Nashville SC CEO John Ingram. That said, it’s just a kit sponsor. Most Nashville SC fans probably can’t name more than one or two sponsors in all of MLS. I listed them in a table below if you want to test your knowledge. For the record, only 13 MLS clubs have a shirt sponsor from their home state or city. One, San Jose, doesn’t even have a sponsor. All additional revenue streams are important for a club and while no financial details were disclosed it is a four year deal. It’s not the name on the jersey so much as how it looks and most importantly, the quality of the players wearing them. The full kit will be unveiled at a later date.

2019 MLS shirt sponsors