I've lived in the Nashville market my entire life but about 40-50 miles outside of the city. Here's what I've observed:
- The biggest fans, it seems, are in fact those who have moved to Nashville from other cities. This comes as no surprise, as the city has been exploding with growth recently, which includes, as mentioned above, many people from northern regions where hockey is much more popular.
- There are, however, many fans who aren't what we refer to as "transplants" from other regions of the country. They just don't come close to matching the number of Titans or Vols fans (or fans of both teams, as I am).
- Once you step outside of Nashville's city limits, football is absolutely king. We follow the Preds, and several people I know do in fact have season tickets. However, the Average Joe probably can't tell you what the Preds record is during the regular season or when the next game is going to be played -- at least not until playoff time. We'll see how this changes following the Stanley Cup run. They may have picked up several more true 'fans', myself included.
- The biggest sports radio station, WGFX-FM 1045 The Zone, spends very little time discussing the Preds -- the exception being during their playoff run. Granted, they aren't the flagship station for the Preds -- that would be 102.5 FM -- but they, by far, have the largest listening audience of any station in Nashville, regardless of format. The Tennessee Titans, Tennessee Vols and Vanderbilt Commodores generally get the most attention on any given day.
- Regarding football, even the Titans aren't as popular as the Vols, despite being much closer in proximity (Knoxville is about 150 or so miles east of Nashville)(Vandy's fan base, even in Nashville where the school is located, is smaller than that of the Vols). College football comes first, followed by the NFL. After that, it's kind of a toss up, but the Preds have certainly made their case to fill that space.