I'm really confused and haven't gotten a definite answer. Is this MLS expansion in Nashville simply elevating their current USL team to MLS or is this a new team all together? Anyone have the answer?
Teams entering MLS are always new teams. The league controls things like trademarks, all the player contracts, etc. Remember that MLS is a single-entity league. The local Investor-Operators buy a percentage of the league which gives them the right to operate an essentially league owned team. There is also some continuity. The owner of the current USL team are the same Investor-Operators for the most part that will operate the new MLS team in Nashville. They are the people that are getting the new stadium built and will run all the local operations. This is the same process that teams like Seattle, Portland, and recently Cincinnati went through. There was a lower division team and then there was the MLS team. They were separate entities, sometimes with the same name, sometimes slightly changed.