Nelly Buys Horse Racing Team

Nelly is bringing a National Thoroughbred League team to his hometown.

Nelly has announced the purchase of the Seattle team and will relocate it to St. Louis, and the team will be called the Nellies.

Following the announcement of the purchase, Nelly shared his excitement about his team being in St.Louis.

“I’m excited to be part of bringing a new professional sports team to the city that means so much to me…” Nelly said in a statement to FOX Business. “I can’t wait to hit the track and celebrate with our incredible St. Louis fans.”

“I thought it was a brilliant idea to take one of the oldest sports and give it a new spin, refreshing it for a new age,” added A Tribe Called Quest’s Jarobi White, another investor, “Horse racing is called the sport of kings. What NTL is doing is making the sport more accessible, so everyone from kings to commoners can enjoy.”

The horses will run at Fairmount Park in nearby Collinsville, Illinois, which has undergone a $100 million renovation 

Randall Lane, CEO of the National Thoroughbred League, is looking forward to the league expanding to St. Louis.

“You look at the Cardinals, St. Louis supports its teams and falls in love with its teams. We’ve talked to the mayor’s office about this and coordinated there. It’s a city that loves sports, that wants to support its teams, and Fairmount Park is 100 years old. It’s really historical, old track that they’re putting $100 million into,” Lane said in a recent interview with FOX Business.

“We like going where there’s investment. We like going where there’s a century-old tradition of horse racing. But we wouldn’t have done this without Nelly spearheading it, because having local ownership, having somebody that’s so synonymous with the city to the point of even the name is so fun. I mean, the St. Louis Nellies. Almost all of our teams have horse-related names, but it’s both smart and speaks to the fact that we’re trying to create a team that speaks to St. Louis itself.”

To celebrate the new team, Nelly will host the NTL’s Nelly Cup at the track on July 19. The day will also include music by White himself and a Nelly-inspired fashion show.