Atlanta United FC Thread (Auburn, Jackson: centers, safety, location)

[primaltech]

Hopefully the 0-4 goals against in that first game doesn't come back to affect us at the end of the season.

Jazzed that the second game/ home opener went great. And we set a new attendance record again, I believe. They're pushing near Falcons attendance territory. Incredible.

[Moosehd]

Might check out a few games this year also

[seussie]

Yep! No 4 highest attendance worldwide! :]

I was worried about the trades. The recent win is blinding my doubt.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by seussie

Yep! No 4 highest attendance worldwide! :]

I was worried about the trades. The recent win is blinding my doubt.

Driving ticket prices up to NFL game levels.

[seussie]

Well, folks paid for 'em still. What are the new figures for comparison that you're looking at? To my knowledge, Atlanta United tickets were already higher when compared to other MLS teams, and Benz tickets for multiple sports has spiked upwards. I was looking at July 15th tickets and remembered not paying so much; not quite sure if tickets will stabilize if MLS keeps growing in popularity.

[Ant131531]

It's pretty funny how much buzz and excitement Atlanta United has brought to the league. Hell, in MLS fan circles, we're already a hated team. A lot of other team's fans are jealous of the instant success Atlanta United has had and how they're media darlings. We can sell out 72k seat stadiums while they struggle to bring more than 5000 to big games.

Hopefully they make playoffs again. Atlanta United is the most exciting thing to happen to Atlanta sports in years outside of the Superbowl run of the Falcons in 2016.

[waronxmas]

After Sunday's match, Josef Martinez is two hat tricks away from breaking the all-time MLS record. He has played in 23 matches.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/...t-trick-record

[Moosehd]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

It's pretty funny how much buzz and excitement Atlanta United has brought to the league. Hell, in MLS fan circles, we're already a hated team. A lot of other team's fans are jealous of the instant success Atlanta United has had and how they're media darlings. We can sell out 72k seat stadiums while they struggle to bring more than 5000 to big games.

Hopefully they make playoffs again. Atlanta United is the most exciting thing to happen to Atlanta sports in years outside of the Superbowl run of the Falcons in 2016.

Haters gonna hate

[jsvh]

A New Atlanta, United by Soccer | New York Times

...As in much of the American South, the sports landscape in Atlanta is dominated by football, both professional and college. But for transplants like Riddle without a tie to an existing franchise or university, true sports love can be hard to find. The Braves’ long run of success in Major League Baseball in the 1990s and early 2000s is now a memory, and last year the team moved to the suburbs. The Hawks of the N.B.A. have rarely drawn well, and two N.H.L. hockey teams have come and gone.

Last year, Atlanta United eagerly stepped into that pro sports void, smashing attendance records, dominating M.L.S. merchandise sales and leading the league in scoring. Six months after it first kicked a ball, it became only the fourth team in league history to qualify for the playoffs in its inaugural season. This year, its upward trajectory has continued unabated: Attendance has continued to grow, to about 50,000 fans a game, and the team is again competing for the league’s best record.

A year after the team first took the field, Atlanta United flags now fly in front yards and from porches in many neighborhoods. Sports talk radio shows devoted to soccer have found an audience, and it is increasingly difficult to spend a day in downtown Atlanta without seeing someone in one of the team’s jerseys.

For a long time, “Atlanta was known for traffic, sprawl and the airport,” said Michael Tavani, 38, another transplant and entrepreneur who works downtown. “It wasn’t cool to be from Atlanta.”

But in the last five years, he said, he has sensed a growing pride in the city, especially among its younger residents. “This generation of people,” Tavani said, “want to create a special place.

...

Don Garber, the commissioner of M.L.S., readily admits that he was among those shocked by Atlanta United’s instant success. His view of the city, he said, had remained stuck in the 1990s, before the influx of corporations, the rebirth of downtown and the arrival of hundreds of thousands of newcomers changed Atlanta’s demographics. He also had questioned the wisdom of playing in a cavernous N.F.L. stadium in a Southeastern Conference college market, but he eventually deferred to Blank, who reassured him — repeatedly — that he had a better sense of his city.

“Atlanta had a reputation for transient folks from other places who didn’t connect with any one thing except college football,” Garber said. “The size of the stadium caused us concern, but Arthur kept saying, ‘I will fill the stadium.’ The fact that it was downtown was what put us over the finish line.”

Getting to the finish line on game day now starts with raucous tailgating in the parking lots around the stadium, a kind of SEC meets M.L.S. vibe, and a couple of curious rituals...

[primaltech]

I'm going to the June 2nd game. Got great seats, really excited for it. I went to one of the tailgates in the gulch last month just to hang out with friends, and it was really cool atmosphere. Didn't even have a ticket.

Been watching a lot of their games and they are seriously winning.