The county seat of Davidson County and also the capital of the state of Tennessee is the city of Nashville. After Memphis, Nashville is among the most populous city in the state. Nashville includes seven small municipalities in its government system and is also known as the hub for a number of industries such as 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 tactical location as being a river port, Nashville carried on growing in its economic strength until the Civil War. However, the city soon recovered its economic position and grew even larger as a shipping and trading area along with developing a strong manufacturing base. In addition, it carried on growing its established publishing industry and inspired the development of fine arts. Soon, Nashville was nicknamed the Music City.
As well as its prosperous culture and economic standing, Nashville has also remained in the news for its sports scene. Nashville houses a number of professional sports teams; a few of the prominent ones being the Nashville Predators and Tennessee Titans. The Nashville Predators are definitely the areas professional ice hockey team and they are an element of the Central Division of the Western Conference in the National Hockey League. They were established in 1962 and were then referred to as the Dixie Flyers. All of the home games which they play are at the Sommet Centre that 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. These were moved from Houston to Tennessee in 1997. They were then referred to as the Tennessee Oilers but changed their name to Tennessee Titans in 1999. The home field for the Tennessee Titans is the LP field.
Nashville has a minor league baseball team which is called the Nashville Sounds. They are an element of the Pacific Coast League and play all of their home games at the Herschel Greer Stadium. This stadium was inaugurated in 1978 and can host almost 10,000 baseball fans. This team has been recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams. This league has gone through to winning several titles including the PCL Championships in 2005, the Southern League title and the Double A of the Cincinnati Reds as well as the Double A in the New York Yankees.
Earlier known as the Nashville Broncs, the Music City Starts is Nashvilles basketball team that is an expansion team in the American Basketball Association. This team commenced playing from the 2008-09 season and played their home games in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium but will be shifting to the Allen Arena for their games from the 2009-10 seasons. The Nashville Broncs officially changed their name to the Music City Stars during 2009 in line with Nashvilles strong association with the music industry.
Nashville also encourages college sports and lends its support to the teams from Vanderbilt University, Belmont University and the Tennessee State University.