Cover Story: Atlanta? A soccer town? Indeed it is.

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On April 16, Atlanta learned that the rumors were true. In a top-floor event space overlooking Centennial Olympic Park and the future home of the new Atlanta Falcons stadium, Arthur Blank, Mayor Kasim Reed, and Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber told a crowd of soccer officials, fans, and media that Atlanta would welcome its first Major League Soccer team in 2017. Blank would fund the yet-to-be-named squad, the most recent in a line of Atlanta soccer teams dating back to 1967, including the Chiefs, Generals, Apollos, Ruckus, and, most recently, the Silverbacks. For soccer fans that have spent decades waking up early to pack local bars such as Brewhouse and spent late nights playing in rec leagues at the Silverbacks’ park in DeKalb County, it was welcome news. Among skeptics there was a collective scoff and prediction the team would be a flop. But damn the haters! Atlanta is a soccer town with a rich soccer past dating back to the Chiefs playing at the woeful Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. This can be done.

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::Photo by David Berry

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