Despite on-field success, unfavorable lease conditions led to the sale of the team and relocation to Atlanta in December 2001, then becoming the original Georgia Force.

The team's logo featured an anthropomorphic tabby wearing a 1950s-style leather jacket, holding the neck of a guitar in one paw and juggling a football with the other.

After being unable to reach favorable agreements with arena management which was controlled by the venue's primary tenant, the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League, majority owner Mark Bloom sold the franchise in December 2001 to Virgil Williams, an Atlanta businessman,[3] for nearly $10 million.

Because Nashville Municipal Auditorium and Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym, the only other sizable indoor venues in Nashville, were unsuitable for arena football (Municipal Auditorium's floor was too small to contain the field of play as its ice hockey rink had always been of less-than-regulation size and Vanderbilt had a "dry" no-alcohol policy for on-campus athletic events), Adams explored the idea of building his own mid-size arena (roughly 10,000 seats) to host the Kats and compete with the Gaylord Entertainment Center for concerts and smaller sporting events.

Following the new agreement, Adams announced that the expansion Kats would begin play for the 2005 season and would return to the arena the original team called home.

While the majority of the new team was owned by Adams, country music singer Tim McGraw was brought in as a minority investor.

The new team also introduced a new in-arena mascot named Kool Kat, a cat clad in a jersey and shorts that often performed daredevil stunts during breaks in the game.

The team was not mentioned as a possible addition to the resurrected AFL in 2010, though fans have been clamoring for a return of the Kats in some form to the renamed Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

On November 1, 2023, the revival of the Arena Football League announced the return of the Nashville Kats and new ownership structure.

Jeff Fisher, former Tennessee Titans Head Coach, is a partner and President of Football Operations for the organization (also now-commissioner of the league).

Sports talk host Greg Pogue also serves as Partner and Vice President of Community Relations.

On October 18, 2024, Nashville Arena Sports, LLC, owners of the Kats, filed a lawsuit in Chancery Court For Davidson County, Tennessee, against chairman Chuck McDowell seeking an alleged delinquent payment which was loaned to the franchise.

The suit alleged that McDowell failed to pay on a signed $2.5 million (USD) promissory note to the club.

[6] Jeff Fisher announced that the team still plans to play in the league's inaugural season with its current owners despite this latest legal challenge.