MLS Atlanta Will Be Named By 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
By John Buhler
It’s been a long time coming. After hearing the initial MLS expansion plans to Atlanta for 2017 back in April 2014, MLS Atlanta will have its name by July when the Georgia Dome hosts the semifinals of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
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Atlanta Falcons owner and co-founder of The Home Deport Arthur Blank owns this expansion MLS franchise and his soccer club will begin play in the New Atlanta Stadium, also unnamed, in Spring 2017. The club has hired Darren Eales as President, a former executive of Tottenham Hotspur FC in the English Premier League and Carlos Bocanegra as Technical Director, formerly a defender and captain of the US Men’s National Team, to help build this expansion team into a first class soccer club.
Eales and Bocanegra have been hard at work creating a culture from scratch. Both men are actively scouting for locations of the team’s soccer academy. They believe that Atlanta is a hot bed for soccer talent within the states and want to set up a first-rate academy to keep top players in the Atlanta region.
Arthur Blank has said that the color scheme for this still unnamed MLS franchise will feature red, black, white, and gold accents. These are the colors of both Georgia and Georgia Tech. And with Atlanta’s reputation for naming their teams after birds (Falcons, Hawks, Thrashers), I’d like to believe we’re getting a new bird team to cheer for in two springs.
Popular names among fans include Atlanta Firebirds, Atlanta Phoenix, Atlanta Resurgens FC, Atlanta Locomotive, Atlanta Chiefs (our former NASL franchise from the 1970’s), etc. I like any of these names. I just know that with Arthur Blank, Darren Eales, and Carlos Bocanegra that everything done with this organization will be first-class. I’m anxious to start play in 2015 and build rivalries with Orlando City SC and DC United.
Like the MLS’ expansion announcement to bring an expansion team to Atlanta in April 2014, I imagine that the revealing of the official team name and logo will come as a surprise and blow us all away. With a city like Atlanta that has so many kids playing youth soccer and so many soccer fans in general, the MLS is going to explode in the Peach State. I can’t wait to have a new team to cheer for!
What should name should MLS Atlanta adopt?