Seattle was a expansion team and made moves from the beginning. No excuses.
MLS ATLANTA UNITED F.C.: '18 MLS CUP CHAMPS/'19 Campeones Cup
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Despite what everyone tells you, an MLS expansion team in Atlanta will work | For The Win
Despite what everyone tells you, an MLS expansion team in Atlanta will work
By MIKE FOSS 9 hours ago FOLLOW @THEMIKEFOSS
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In a major press event on Wednesday, Major League Soccer is expected to reveal that the league would be adding a 22nd team, and expand into Atlanta.
Over the past decade, MLS has managed to seamlessly integrate new teams into the league. There have been 10 expansion sides since 2005, and all have experienced a relatively healthy amount of success on and off the field (as long as you ignore Chivas and, let’s face it, everyone does). Expansion should be a positive sign — one of prosperity for a league which truly has prospered.
So why are there tremors of unrest as MLS unveils its plans to add four more new teams in the coming years? Well, it’s easy: Soccer fans are spoiled.
Scarves up. @MLSAtlanta2017 #MLSAtlantaTwitter / MLS: Scarves up. @MLSAtlanta2017 ...—
Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 16, 2014
MLS has done too good of a job expanding, so when plans for teams in Miami, Orlando and now Atlanta came to light, fans got nervous. They were nervous because there already was a team in Miami from 1998-2001 and that team, along with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, was a disaster. Going back to Miami would mean drumming up attention in a city already apathetic to its professional sports teams, a city where soccer has already failed (even though they played in North Fort Lauderdale).
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With the help of David Beckham, Miami will be able to attract the talent necessary to build a team not only capable of competing but also attracting fans. The Miami franchise will be bolstered by the presence of the Orlando expansion team. But what of Atlanta? It’s a transient city that has run out an NHL team and sent its MLB team for the suburbs.
It looks bad on paper, but Atlanta is in a word: Perfect.
Why?
1. Geography
Look at an MLS map and you will see regional clusters. Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, San Jose. Washington, Philadelphia, New York.
But if you look at that same MLS map, you will notice that there are no teams south of D.C. United. But simply throwing a couple teams in Florida didn’t work once, so why would it work again? It wouldn’t, and Atlanta provides the necessary bridge. A successful franchise in Atlanta also opens up the possibility of future expansion into North Carolina, which has been a staple in college soccer for over two decades.
2. Size
Quick: What is the largest North American market without an MLS club?
Atlanta.
There are people, a lot of people, who won’t want to pay for an NFL ticket, or drive to the suburbs for MLB. MLS offers the unique opportunity to experience affordable, quality entertainment to a population who has proven it wants to watch soccer. A Mexico-Nigeria exhibition at the Georgia Dome in March sold 68.212 tickets. Even if you cut that number in half twice, Atlanta’s attendance would rank 12th out of 19 current teams.
3. The NFL
Falcons owner Arthur Blank is the driving force behind MLS expansion in Atlanta. This is relevant because Arthur Blank owns the one professional sports team Atlanta cares about. Blank is building a new stadium for the Falcons, which will be ready in 2017 and has said it would be designed to house the MLS team as well. The stadium would be a permanent home for the club, which is more than original franchises like D.C. and New England can say.
Atlanta makes sense for MLS. Even if it doesn’t feel right to some, it is a viable and in many ways necessary move to make. If soccer really is one of the fastest growing sport in America, and MLS really is the league of the future, it can’t pretend the southeast doesn’t exist.
MLS is making the play it must at the time it must.
Despite what everyone tells you, an MLS expansion team in Atlanta will work
By MIKE FOSS 9 hours ago FOLLOW @THEMIKEFOSS
3.1k shares
SHARE
TWEET
Share this image:
(USA TODAY Sports)
In a major press event on Wednesday, Major League Soccer is expected to reveal that the league would be adding a 22nd team, and expand into Atlanta.
Over the past decade, MLS has managed to seamlessly integrate new teams into the league. There have been 10 expansion sides since 2005, and all have experienced a relatively healthy amount of success on and off the field (as long as you ignore Chivas and, let’s face it, everyone does). Expansion should be a positive sign — one of prosperity for a league which truly has prospered.
So why are there tremors of unrest as MLS unveils its plans to add four more new teams in the coming years? Well, it’s easy: Soccer fans are spoiled.
Scarves up. @MLSAtlanta2017 #MLSAtlantaTwitter / MLS: Scarves up. @MLSAtlanta2017 ...—
Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 16, 2014
MLS has done too good of a job expanding, so when plans for teams in Miami, Orlando and now Atlanta came to light, fans got nervous. They were nervous because there already was a team in Miami from 1998-2001 and that team, along with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, was a disaster. Going back to Miami would mean drumming up attention in a city already apathetic to its professional sports teams, a city where soccer has already failed (even though they played in North Fort Lauderdale).
Share this image:
(USA TODAY Sports)
With the help of David Beckham, Miami will be able to attract the talent necessary to build a team not only capable of competing but also attracting fans. The Miami franchise will be bolstered by the presence of the Orlando expansion team. But what of Atlanta? It’s a transient city that has run out an NHL team and sent its MLB team for the suburbs.
It looks bad on paper, but Atlanta is in a word: Perfect.
Why?
1. Geography
Look at an MLS map and you will see regional clusters. Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, San Jose. Washington, Philadelphia, New York.
But if you look at that same MLS map, you will notice that there are no teams south of D.C. United. But simply throwing a couple teams in Florida didn’t work once, so why would it work again? It wouldn’t, and Atlanta provides the necessary bridge. A successful franchise in Atlanta also opens up the possibility of future expansion into North Carolina, which has been a staple in college soccer for over two decades.
2. Size
Quick: What is the largest North American market without an MLS club?
Atlanta.
There are people, a lot of people, who won’t want to pay for an NFL ticket, or drive to the suburbs for MLB. MLS offers the unique opportunity to experience affordable, quality entertainment to a population who has proven it wants to watch soccer. A Mexico-Nigeria exhibition at the Georgia Dome in March sold 68.212 tickets. Even if you cut that number in half twice, Atlanta’s attendance would rank 12th out of 19 current teams.
3. The NFL
Falcons owner Arthur Blank is the driving force behind MLS expansion in Atlanta. This is relevant because Arthur Blank owns the one professional sports team Atlanta cares about. Blank is building a new stadium for the Falcons, which will be ready in 2017 and has said it would be designed to house the MLS team as well. The stadium would be a permanent home for the club, which is more than original franchises like D.C. and New England can say.
Atlanta makes sense for MLS. Even if it doesn’t feel right to some, it is a viable and in many ways necessary move to make. If soccer really is one of the fastest growing sport in America, and MLS really is the league of the future, it can’t pretend the southeast doesn’t exist.
MLS is making the play it must at the time it must.
If they show hate, you must be doing something right
new levels of negativity
ATLiens
MLS better watch out, we coming to drop bombs in 2017
That pathetic skyline. They can't hold down hockey I doubt they'll hold down soccer.
Sly Cookin
based
I want to be a founding memberATL brehs are we ready for this
@The ADD @#1 pick @FreshFromATL @Stone @The Dogg @charmander@Teal. @ATLien@Atlrocafella @Atlboss @Rickdogg44 @FutureGOAT @JBoy @The_Sheff @Sly Cookin @Hollywood Co@Bruh Man 5th Flo@Moose_Greyjoy @1BadBamaFan @KushGawd @iamstr8fire @Sleepy @Tommy Tuffnuts @Rebel Soldier@GlitchBoy @daemonova @Town @King Biko @freddykruegeronapill @rip928@Mr Hate Coffee @jmspro @King Karim @The ADD @steezy
What should our name be?
Major League Soccer names Atlanta as 22nd franchise, set for 2017 debut | MLSsoccer.com
Major League Soccer names Atlanta as 22nd franchise, set for 2017 debut
APRIL 16, 2014
Nick Firchau
MLSsoccer.com
266
Comments
MLS is headed to the ATL.
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced on Wednesday that Atlanta has been awarded the league’s 22nd team, the culmination of six years of courtship between the league and the one of the nation’s most diverse and influential markets.
The expansion team – which will begin play in the 2017 season – will be owned by Arthur Blank, the co-founder of The Home Depot and the owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. A state-of-the-art retractable roof stadium in downtown Atlanta will house both the Falcons and the new MLS franchise on artificial turf, and is expected to host more than 29,000 fans for soccer matches upon its completion.
“We are thrilled to welcome Atlanta to Major League Soccer as our 22nd team,” Garber said in a statement. “Atlanta is one of the largest and most diverse markets in North America and has a rich tradition in sports and culture.
“And with Arthur Blank joining our ownership group, we are adding one of the most respected owners in professional sports. Arthur is deeply passionate about soccer and our quest to become one of the top professional soccer leagues in the world. We look forward to working with him and the entire Falcons organization on achieving this important goal.”
- Get all the latest details on MLS Atlanta at MLSAtlanta2017.com
Blank and his associates first contacted MLS about a potential franchise in Atlanta in 2008, and the group’s research brought them to six different MLS markets to discuss club business operations and tour stadiums. They also spoke with additional six MLS organizations about their intentions to bring big league soccer to Atlanta, already home to organizations in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.
“We are very excited to bring a Major League Soccer team to Atlanta,” Blank said in a statement. "We are going to build a first-class organization on and off the field that will be a source of pride for the entire community, and we believe our downtown stadium will become a destination for soccer fans throughout the Southeast for many years to come."
Greater Atlanta has a metro population of 5.5 million residents, according to US Census data, making it the ninth-biggest metropolitan area in the United States.
Although Atlanta has never fielded a team in MLS, the state of Georgia has produced a wealth of talented players in the past 15 years. US national team World Cup veterans Clint Mathis(Conyers), Josh Wolff (Stone Mountain) and Ricardo Clark (Jonesboro) all hail from the area, while USMNT hopefuls and rising MLS stars Sean Johnson (Liburn) and Jack McInerney(Alpharetta) also call the Atlanta region home.
Atlanta’s soccer tradition also includes for the Chiefs of the old NASL, who featured English veteran Phil Woosnam and South African forward Kaizer Motaung and won the league's very first championship in 1968. In the late 1980s, the Atlanta Attack indoor team played in the NPSL before relocating to Kansas City in 1991. More currently, the Atlanta Silverbacks – who were founded in 1994 as the Atlanta Ruckus – compete in the new NASL, the current second division of the North American soccer pyramid.
During the last few years, crowds of more than 50,000 fans have regularly attended international soccer matches in Atlanta, including a crowd of more than 70,000 fans for an international friendly between Mexico and Nigeria last month.
"Georgia is home to some of the most passionate sports fans in the country," Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said in a statement. "And no sport has grown in popularity during the last two decades as much as soccer. I expect game days for our new team in Atlanta to be colorful and festive events, with people from all over the state making the trip to the state capital to support the team."
Added Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: “Atlanta has long been an international city with a vibrant and diverse population. An MLS soccer team competing in our new state-of-the-art facility could not be a more fitting and welcome addition as we continue on our path towards being one of the leading cities in the world.”
The Atlanta appointment marks the third expansion announcement for MLS in the past year, following moves to add New York City FC and Orlando City SC in 2015. A Miami franchise, to be owned by a group headed by retired Manchester United and LA Galaxy icon David Beckham, is also expected to be added to the league in the near future, with club officials expecting to join Atlanta in their 2017 debut.
The league plans to add a 24th team by 2020.
Sly Cookin
based
Women > skyline
They can't hold down hockey I doubt they'll hold down soccer.
u gay breh
It BARELY snows in ATL. Why would ATL have a fukking hockey team?
They can't hold down hockey I doubt they'll hold down soccer.
No one misses that shyt either.
PortCityProphet
Follow me to the truth
another atlien shytted on. i live for this shyt, it's why I wake up in the morning, it keeps me going
MLS to Atlanta: How this round of expansion looks very different
By Jeremiah Oshan @JeremiahOshan on Apr 16 2014, 5:32p 8
Yes, good soccer crowds have shown up in Atlanta. - Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
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MLS is taking some serious risks by going against its tried and true method of going where there's a strong bed of support.
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Major League Soccer awarded their 23rd franchise to Atlanta on Wednesday. The team -- which will eventually be named by the fans -- will begin play in 2017 and share their home with the Atlanta Falcons, a new $1 billion, retractable roof stadium in downtown. (You can watch the team be unveiled here.)
It won't be perfect for soccer -- they'll apparently be installing some sort of curtain system to close off most of the upper deck and grass purists are a bit worked up over another artificial turf field joining the circuit -- but it should be workable. At the very least, it's worlds better than the current stadium situations faced by fellow expansion entrants Miami and New York City. And that should be cause for concern.
Neither New York City FC nor the still unnamed Miami franchise are anywhere particularly close to finding stadium solutions. Technically speaking, Miami's entrance to MLS is actually dependent on finding a solution, but no one is openly admitting that David Beckham's group is actually in danger of losing their team. Their focus is currently on figuring out a solution that would see the Miami team playing in a stadium near the port.
They've got some very pretty stadium mock-ups and it's not hard to imagine it all being a success, but they've also got some significant hurdles to clear before they can break ground. Although they are pitching this as privately financed, Beckham and his group are asking the state of Florida for some tax breaks. It should come as little surprise that Florida politicians will need some convincing before they give public assistance to a bunch of extremely rich people.
The bigger hurdle, though, is from an assortment of business groups that aren't too keen on adding a stadium to the port. Together, it's all enough to at least acknowledge that nothing is guaranteed there.
NYCFC's problems might be bigger, depending on how you look at them. The stadium idea that MLS had been working on -- and spent millions to make happen -- was abandoned almost as soon as the New York Yankees and Manchester City officially became the owners. The thinking since then has been that NYCFC would be playing somewhere in the Bronx.
It now turns out that NYCFC will, in fact, be playing in the Bronx, but not in their own stadium. The latest news -- which will apparently be made official soon -- is that NYCFC will be playing at Yankee Stadium. The plan is to be there three years, but with no land to build their own stadium, the reality is that this is an indefinite solution.
Soccer has been played at Yankee Stadium, so this is hardly unprecedented. But let's not kid ourselves: This is a virtual worst-case scenario. Not only does the Yankees' season completely overlap with NYCF's, but the seating configuration and dirt infield are going to create visual and logistical issues unlike anything MLS has ever faced on a regular basis.
By comparison, then, maybe Atlanta expansion doesn't seem quite as awful as I suggested a couple months ago. But let's not pretend that's anything close to a ringing endorsement.
While the stadium situation in Atlanta is hardly ideal, it would not be unprecedented for it to work just fine. The Seattle Sounders are probably the best example of making a big stadium work, but the Vancouver Whitecaps are in a similar situation -- they play in a retractable roof stadium in downtown in which curtains are used to close off more than half of the seating for soccer matches -- and are drawing solid numbers. The Whitecaps average around 20,000 per game, which seems like a reasonable bench mark for Atlanta to shoot for.
Yet, there's still this sense that MLS is reverting to old habits during this current round of expansion.
MLS has done a lot of positive things since contracting following the 2001 season -- only one of the nine teams added since 2005 has been well short of a success -- this current round seems to be going in a subtly different direction. With Orlando as the obvious exception, MLS seems to be looking mostly at markets based on their size rather than a groundswell of support. Three of the four new teams will essentially be looking to build fan bases from scratch -- although Atlanta has promised to work with the existing NASL franchise -- and trying to do so in extremely crowded professional sports market places.
There are also very strong indications that MLS could be coming to Minnesota -- yet another market in which at least three of the four "big" leagues are already represented -- where there appears to be competing interests, one from the NFL and the other from a joint bid by the Minnesota Twins and the NASL's Minnesota United. The NFL bid envisions playing in a dual-purpose stadium similar to Atlanta. The Twins-United bid proposes building a soccer-specific stadium. MLS fans are undoubtedly crossing fingers and praying to their various gods that the Twins-United bid ends up winning out.
One way or another, this round of expansion will be a referendum on just how far MLS has come since its founding. Atlanta, New York City and Miami are already crowded sports markets that have shown only tepid interest in MLS. If the league succeeds, it could herald a new era of prosperity and security quite unlike anything we've seen before. But if any of these markets fail, it will be a reminder of just how far MLS has to go before it can reach the heights so many of us envision.
By Jeremiah Oshan @JeremiahOshan on Apr 16 2014, 5:32p 8
Yes, good soccer crowds have shown up in Atlanta. - Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
×
DON'T MISS THE NEXT AMAZING SPORTS MOMENT
FOLLOW SBNATION.COM ON TWITTER
LIKE SBNATION.COM FACEBOOK
MLS is taking some serious risks by going against its tried and true method of going where there's a strong bed of support.
TWEET SHARE SHARE 8 COMMENTS
Major League Soccer awarded their 23rd franchise to Atlanta on Wednesday. The team -- which will eventually be named by the fans -- will begin play in 2017 and share their home with the Atlanta Falcons, a new $1 billion, retractable roof stadium in downtown. (You can watch the team be unveiled here.)
It won't be perfect for soccer -- they'll apparently be installing some sort of curtain system to close off most of the upper deck and grass purists are a bit worked up over another artificial turf field joining the circuit -- but it should be workable. At the very least, it's worlds better than the current stadium situations faced by fellow expansion entrants Miami and New York City. And that should be cause for concern.
Neither New York City FC nor the still unnamed Miami franchise are anywhere particularly close to finding stadium solutions. Technically speaking, Miami's entrance to MLS is actually dependent on finding a solution, but no one is openly admitting that David Beckham's group is actually in danger of losing their team. Their focus is currently on figuring out a solution that would see the Miami team playing in a stadium near the port.
They've got some very pretty stadium mock-ups and it's not hard to imagine it all being a success, but they've also got some significant hurdles to clear before they can break ground. Although they are pitching this as privately financed, Beckham and his group are asking the state of Florida for some tax breaks. It should come as little surprise that Florida politicians will need some convincing before they give public assistance to a bunch of extremely rich people.
The bigger hurdle, though, is from an assortment of business groups that aren't too keen on adding a stadium to the port. Together, it's all enough to at least acknowledge that nothing is guaranteed there.
NYCFC's problems might be bigger, depending on how you look at them. The stadium idea that MLS had been working on -- and spent millions to make happen -- was abandoned almost as soon as the New York Yankees and Manchester City officially became the owners. The thinking since then has been that NYCFC would be playing somewhere in the Bronx.
It now turns out that NYCFC will, in fact, be playing in the Bronx, but not in their own stadium. The latest news -- which will apparently be made official soon -- is that NYCFC will be playing at Yankee Stadium. The plan is to be there three years, but with no land to build their own stadium, the reality is that this is an indefinite solution.
Soccer has been played at Yankee Stadium, so this is hardly unprecedented. But let's not kid ourselves: This is a virtual worst-case scenario. Not only does the Yankees' season completely overlap with NYCF's, but the seating configuration and dirt infield are going to create visual and logistical issues unlike anything MLS has ever faced on a regular basis.
By comparison, then, maybe Atlanta expansion doesn't seem quite as awful as I suggested a couple months ago. But let's not pretend that's anything close to a ringing endorsement.
While the stadium situation in Atlanta is hardly ideal, it would not be unprecedented for it to work just fine. The Seattle Sounders are probably the best example of making a big stadium work, but the Vancouver Whitecaps are in a similar situation -- they play in a retractable roof stadium in downtown in which curtains are used to close off more than half of the seating for soccer matches -- and are drawing solid numbers. The Whitecaps average around 20,000 per game, which seems like a reasonable bench mark for Atlanta to shoot for.
Yet, there's still this sense that MLS is reverting to old habits during this current round of expansion.
MLS has done a lot of positive things since contracting following the 2001 season -- only one of the nine teams added since 2005 has been well short of a success -- this current round seems to be going in a subtly different direction. With Orlando as the obvious exception, MLS seems to be looking mostly at markets based on their size rather than a groundswell of support. Three of the four new teams will essentially be looking to build fan bases from scratch -- although Atlanta has promised to work with the existing NASL franchise -- and trying to do so in extremely crowded professional sports market places.
There are also very strong indications that MLS could be coming to Minnesota -- yet another market in which at least three of the four "big" leagues are already represented -- where there appears to be competing interests, one from the NFL and the other from a joint bid by the Minnesota Twins and the NASL's Minnesota United. The NFL bid envisions playing in a dual-purpose stadium similar to Atlanta. The Twins-United bid proposes building a soccer-specific stadium. MLS fans are undoubtedly crossing fingers and praying to their various gods that the Twins-United bid ends up winning out.
One way or another, this round of expansion will be a referendum on just how far MLS has come since its founding. Atlanta, New York City and Miami are already crowded sports markets that have shown only tepid interest in MLS. If the league succeeds, it could herald a new era of prosperity and security quite unlike anything we've seen before. But if any of these markets fail, it will be a reminder of just how far MLS has to go before it can reach the heights so many of us envision.
another atlien shytted on. i live for this shyt, it's why I wake up in the morning, it keeps me going
We got you on KoS status round here
Brehs stay hating on Atlanta
Arthur Blank gonna build us up like he did the Falcons
GodFather Blank stay in the kitchen cooking up new plays and These nikkaz can't stand it 
Atlanta Dopeboys