AJC: Atlanta Getting a Major League Soccer Team
Decatur Metro | April 7, 2014 | 12:45 pmFrom the AJC yesterday…
A Major League Soccer expansion franchise is coming to Atlanta.
An announcement is scheduled for April 16 in Atlanta, a person with knowledge of the situation said Sunday. The Atlanta team would become the 22nd franchise in MLS and would open play in 2017, which is also when the new $1 billion downtown stadium is scheduled to open.
On the one hand, this could be great news for the city. On the other hand, BOOOOORING!.
You know what’s even more boring than soccer? People complaining about how boring it is…
No. No. Soccer is way more boring. At least people complaining about it score a point or two.
Hmm. Close call. Let’s say it’s a zero-zero tie as to which is more boring.
I understand that people who didn’t grow up playing and watching the game think that (real) football is boring. I just feel sorry for you silly fools. COYI!
You know what’s even more boring than people complaining about how boring it is? Watching people feel sorry for those who think it’s boring.
Finally it will become the most popular sport in the US just like my coach promised me in 1974.
Trying to figure out which is the bigger surprise to me…that Atlanta is getting a team, or that there are already 21 other teams.
What a dumb argument. Its similar to arguing which band is better or what color is best.
I’ve grown into watching soccer as my kids play it. You have to enjoy how much skill is involved in passing and defending. I am sure baseball is painfully slow to most people who never played. Soccer involves more physicality and conditioning than baseball.
There was an AP story about Phillies first baseman John Kruk in the early ’90s, when Philadelphia and the Braves were neck-and-neck in the NL east pennant race. The mother of a young Phillies fan was chiding Kruk, who was a smoker. “Think of the example you’re setting,” she told him. “You’re a professional athlete and a role model for children.” Kruk reportedly replied “Lady, I’m not an athlete. I’m a baseball player.”
Ah, but it’s fun to argue about which band is better (Partridge Family or the Brady Kids) and the best color…which happens to be red. And, as for it being a dumb argument, it wasn’t so dumb that you kept your opinion to yourself.
Partridge Family was clearly superior and their bus was testament to the fact that no individual color reigns supreme.
Love that bus but you knew they wouldn’t be able to pick a single color when they couldn’t even settle on a single Chris,
One of the Chris’s ended up being one of my instructors at a Skip Barbour driving school many moons ago- my first-grade self swooned.
Red? Green is way better!
It’s a lot harder to hit a 90 mph fastball than to kick a soccer ball. Any athlete can run, kick the ball, and pass but most athlete can’t touch a curve ball. Communist kickball will be out of here within 10 years just like hockey.
Communist kickball? Are you sure about that? Fine upstanding American sports practice revenue sharing, wealth distribution, if you will.
Football, sorry, fútbol, does not. Communist indeed.
Bin Burru is right on. Most American sports follow a socialist model of revenue sharing and salary caps whereas the european soccer teams are capitalist to the extreme. Nothing’s stopping those teams from spending all they want on players or infrastructure but they sure better be winning and making that money back the following season or you might go out of business or get relegated. Wait, what’s relegation you NFL revenue sharing commies ask? The teams that finish bottom three in the season essentially go down to the minors and have to fight their way back into the top flight. Now that is capitalist survival of the fittest at it’s finest.
Everybody knows Decatur is a lacrosse town. Let’s get us a pro franchise. I can assure you our stadium is plenty big enough. Bonus – no such thing as a 0-0 tie.
In case you haven’t already heard, this year’s MLL championship will be held at Kennesaw State in August. It’s a follow-up to the exhibition they held there in 2012 and will likely be seen as a clincher to reassure there’s enough support for an expansion team in the Atlanta area, similar to the recent Mexico v. Nigeria soccer friendly. No idea where the expansion team would play, but Kennesaw might have the advantage due to MLL’s relationship with LB3 in that area.
Excellent news. Can’t wait to pick up some season tickets and ride marta to the games!
In honor of this announcement we watched The Damned United last night. A biopic about a guy I’ve never heard of and a competition I only know vaguely. Still, a darn good movie.
Wow! I never knew this board skewed so elderly!
Soccer is not for everyone.
If you think a nil-nil tie is boring, you’ve never seen a match! Can’t wait for the MLS to come to Atlanta!!!
Spaceman will be buying season tickets. This is great news for Atlanta and our growing soccer community.
Yes soccer is far more athletic than most other sports and requires far different skill than timing a fastball or adjusting to a curveball. Athleticism vs reflexes. Personally, I love ’em both!
If you think it’s boring that is fine – don’t go. I think NBA basketball is the most dreadfully boring game to watch, but we still have the Hawks and despite awfully lazy play they score a bunch of point every game.
The MLS tends to play a pretty up tempo game. Bring in a couple of rock star players and the team will take off. Just glad Arthur is buying instead of the Spirit Group.
Haven’t we already had a professional soccer team on at least two separate occasions? Just wondering what will make this time any different. I’m a soccer fan – love watching the Premier League games Saturday and Sunday on Universal Sports. But I’ve never watched a MLS game.
I’m guessing you’re thinking about the Chiefs (a North American Soccer League team from the late 60s – early 70s) and maybe the Silverbacks (current NASL, which is now considered a second tier league with MLS being the primary U.S. professional soccer league). In the case of the Chiefs, it was obviously a different time and Atlanta was a very different place. And the Silverbacks are inherently limited by the nature of their league.
You will have a hard time watching MLS if you watch the EPL regularly.
As a West Ham fan, I doubt I’ll notice much difference at all.
One thing that’s different is the big change in demographics that have occurred here, particularly in Cobb and Gwinnett. International exhibitions draw huge crowds. Another thing is that participation in youth soccer is growing while for other sports it’s declining. Whether any of that that translates into ticket sales for MLS games is another story, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if they outdrew the Hawks.
Agree on every point. It would be great to see the franchise succeed.
just please God, don’t let Atlanta Spirit own the team.!
Honestly, football and lacrosse aside, I can’t wait for a semi pro T20 cricket league to start up here.
Especially with the large Indian and Caribbean communities, it would probably do pretty well here. I’d read a year ago about talks of establishing a national league, but we’ll see.
Shoot. I want to play!
Agreed, Spaceman and brianc. If nothing else, it’s another entertainment option with a viable public transit connection in a stadium that will exist either way. What’s so bad about that? It would also bring in different international teams for preseason friendlies, as well as the chance to host the MLS All Stars game (in Portland this year v. Bayern Munich).
BTW, check out the newly-formed supporters club, Terminus Legion. I joined in February and while they’re still finding their legs, there’s a lot of enthusiasm. It’ll probably grow more quickly with official MLS confirmation, similar to the way the Timbers Army did in Portland.
@Bulldog: It isn’t the EPL, but try it out. Rivals Portland and Seattle played this last weekend and are popular draws, along with LA, Houston, NY, and Kansas City. The style of play is mixed, but increasingly more players have international experience (especially European), which is noticeably upping the level of play. Side note: a majority of the current US Men’s National Team now plays in the MLS.
Separate question: Can we erect a large screen on the square during the World Cup, like they do in Europe, Boston, Portland, the Brewhouse in L5P, etc? At least the last couple matches. It’d create a great atmosphere and the surrounding restaurants would make a mint selling beverages and quick foods like sausages.
“Can we erect a large screen on the square during the World Cup,…” — If by “we” you mean you and some of your friends, then get busy. Talk to the City to confirm feasibility and get necessary permitting queued up. Figure out what it would entail, financially and logistically. Find some corporate sponsors to foot the bill in exchange for appropriate billing and exposure. Recruit a core cadre of people who share your passion to make it happen, and enlist enough day-of volunteers to execute. Virtually every great festival and event in Decatur started as an idea somebody had to do something fun for the community.
Make it a fundraiser for the Fujis and exponentially increase buy-in from financial underwriters and hands-on helpers.
Great news for Atlanta soccer fans! Can’t wait to purchase my season tickets.
Wonder how the Atlanta Silverbacks feel about this?
Ask the Atlanta Knights.
YNWA……