Atlanta, soccer and the MLS
Apr 12, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; An official MLS ball rests on the field during the match between the New York Red Bulls and D.C. United in the first half at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. One of these bad boys could be popping up in Atlanta soon. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
If you haven’t heard already, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Major League Soccer are set to make a “major announcement” today at 5:00 p.m. This announcement is largely expected to be the birth of an Atlanta-based MLS team, as part of the league’s continued expansion plans.
As someone who’s recently become a lot more interested in soccer, in addition to being an all-around sports fan, I think this is awesome news. More sports are better right? Well, the Thrashers may disagree. But come on, this is Atlanta–hockey is just unnatural this far south.
A fair argument of course, but it’s also worth considering whether or not bringing an MLS team to Atlanta is a good decision or not. It would be easy to look at the demise of previous soccer teams in Atlanta and say that this entire thing is silly, but you would have to ignore the immense success and growth the sport has seen in America to do that.
Soccer–and specifically the MLS–has been creating a storm in the American sports scene, and according to a recent study by Luker On Trends and ESPN, the league is now equally as popular as the MLB among adolescents. That’s a pretty good sign for indicating future success.
In addition to a more general interest nationwide, the Atlanta Silverbacks–a Division II American soccer team–just set an attendance record last year. This comes from the Steven Goff’s Washington Post article linked at the end of the first paragraph:
"Atlanta’s recent pro soccer history is modest: The NASL’s Silverbacks have been around, in one form or another, for almost 20 years, setting an organization attendance high last year with an average of 4,677. Mexico’s national team has drawn monster crowds at Georgia Dome, but El Tri would attract an audience in Montana."
So there seems to be at least the possibility that an MLS team could succeed in Atlanta right? Of course, there probably wouldn’t be this looming announcement if that wasn’t the case.
As Goff points out in his article, there are risks involved in locating an MLS team in Atlanta:
"But does Atlanta make practical sense? Like with Miami, it’s no tap-in from six yards. Both are major cities with several established sports franchises (not to mention a passion for college sports and auto racing). Atlanta, too, suffers from attendance issues: While the NFL’s Falcons are a hit, the hockey team left in 2011, the Braves are middle of the pack (and abandoning downtown for the suburbs) and the NBA’s Hawks are 28th of 30."
Goff also says that Blank’s plan to have this soccer team share the Atlanta Falcons’ new stadium is folly:
"The drive behind the Atlanta effort comes from the Falcons, and more specifically, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, the Home Depot co-founder who will permanently house the MLS team in a stadium designed primarily for the Falcons with a retractable roof and artificial turf. Except in Seattle, where CenturyLink Field works well for MLS for so many reasons, the league should be veering from NFL stadiums, not toward them."
I can’t comment on much of this because I’m no soccer expert, and I’m certainly not an authority on the economic decisions of national sporting leagues. But I can say that all of this is exciting. It’s good for Major League Soccer and it could be good for the city of Atlanta. I’d like to say that a move like this will be extremely successful, but really, all we can do is wait and see what happens.
In the meantime, brush up on your knowledge of the rules of the game and start thinking of cool Atlanta soccer names. We’ll be sure to give you updates on “the announcement” as it unfolds later today.