Am I the only one that is excited to have these NEW football/soccer stadiums? As long as there aren't football lines on the field, I'm fine with playing in new billion dollar behemoths.
The Silverbacks are drawing about 4,500 to 5,000 (capacity 5,000) in a stadium maybe 10 miles from where the MLSATL stadium will be. They're doing that with NASL players and the level of media attention an NASL team gets in the ninth-largest media market in the nation. I think they're outdrawing the minor league hockey and baseball teams that are less than 15 miles away despite the baseball team's farm connection with the Atlanta Braves. Oh, and that's at a stadium that relies 100 percent on parking and doesn't have rail nearby. The 6,000 prediction is merely a troll number. There might be 6,000 season ticket deposits already depending on how many people are reserving. This is without a single player or coach. I don't follow Mexican soccer, but if some high-level star from Mexico's national team is signed as a DP along with someone like Michael Bradley or Sean Johnson, look the frick out. I don't think I can state how much Arthur Blank changed the sports landscape here. The Falcons had sucked forever with a couple of winning seasons. He sold out the Georgia Dome before Michael Vick ever started a game, and the team has mostly won since except for last season and the Vicktastrophe year. But even then I'm pretty sure attendance was near capacity. So until other evidence shows it, Blank knows what he's doing. He's not some random investor group with a sports team on a balance sheet. The Braves are getting outspent more than 2-1 by some teams, and the Hawks are the Hawks.
MLS massive failure.. gigantic, empty stadium with fake grass. This is the absolute worst garbage MLS has pulled in years.
I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about soccer... Not some winter sport that NOBODY plays in Georgia because it doesn't get cold enough for ponds to freeze. Soccer and hockey are completely different demographics. I wonder if people think that Brazilians won't support a soccer team because their Olympic hockey team sucks.
I'm not usually one to step up to defend Atlanta, let alone anything in the South. I hate the Braves with a passion and I'm totally indifferent about the Falcons and Hawks. I loathe the SEC and I'd make an argument that anything that is popular in the South or among the redneck segment of our society actually hurts the US (NASCAR, Honey Boo Boo, Larry the Cable Guy). I say this as someone whose entire family and wife is from Kentucky. However, I don't understand all the hate directed toward an ATL MLS franchise. Yes, we'd all prefer that they play in a SSS with real turf but that's not going to happen. It's going to be a Vancouver/BC Place situation, which, I haven't heard anyone complain about. Like it or not, ATL is a huge market and has more than enough people that are interested in soccer. Will attendance taper off? That all depends on Blank and how much effort he puts into creating a good product, which I think he will.
It all depends on the kind of turf. One that's specifically created for soccer, like in Portland, isn't bad. One that's faster for football, like in Seattle, New England and Vancouver, isn't good. Of course with the Falcons being the main tenant we can only expect the latter.
This is so stupid it's got to be ironically stupid. As in, you're doing a parody of stupid, sort of like Stephen Colbert playing a conservative on TV> Right? Lie to me if you have to.
I've seen as many Sounders games at CLink as you or FuzzyForeigner have seen in the new Atlanta stadium. This stadium (designed with soccer in mind) will perform at least as well as the other football stadiums do for MLS purposes and ragging on it while playing in CLink looks pretty silly.
what if they were to do something like Metlife stadium does to change the endzones from Jets to Giants where they are able to pull up the turf in squares and replace them with the other teams endzone, except with the entire field? this would guarantee that no football lines would be seen since it would be an entirely different turf, also allowing for the falcons to play on the short fast football turf and ATLMLS to play on the softer slower turf like Portland has? http://www.newyorkjets.com/videos/v...angeover/d8741b98-4280-47cc-9dd3-456474db8045
Besides the fact that you have offended half the country, I think your opinion is crap. If Atlanta can't play in a SSS with real grass, then go to a city that will provide it! Don't force feed us another crappy plastic field in a horrible sports city. It's going to be a failure. I'm now officially starting the, get Don Garber out of MLS campaign.
All this hate seems just a tiny bit uncalled for. I think people need to calm their horses and actually wait for the team to play a game before judging it.
We need to wait to see what it's like to play on fake grass in a huge NFL stadium? No.. we don't. Seattle gets away with it because of the fans, but the game still looks bad played on the artificial surface. This is NOT what the league needs to be doing in 2014. Not to mention a historically poor sports city.
So if 30K show up for Atlanta then they should get away with it to, no? And you don't know if 30K will show up or not (and neither do I). So until 2017 when we see what Atlanta's attendance is you really don't have any ground to stand on for your objection.
No... as I said, Seattle is not in an ideal situation. They are playing on fake grass. No reason to bring in a new franchise that is going to go against MLS stated requirement of SSS and real grass just to force a team into a big TV market. We don't need that garbage any longer. Wake up dude, doesn't matter if there are 100k in the stadium every game, soccer shouldn't be played on fake grass, period.
Somebody should tell Russia, and Costa Rica, and Italy, and France, and the Netherlands. Because they all have professional teams playing on turf (including one that played on turf in Serie A).
NASL 2.0 too many teams; too many football stadiums with astroturf; too much diluted american talent atlanta is a horrific pro sports market .. god bless arthur blank and his soccer fetish, but this is subtraction by addition. i can't wait to watch all 25k empty seats with a ball bouncing around football lines with players no one has heard of or cares about ....
until ATL actually shows consistent crowds for extended period of time; they do not get the benefit of the doubt that city is full of pro sports lame.
Well, as long as your honest about having an ax to grind with Atlanta and not actually being worried about the good of the league.
i absolutely am worried about the good of the league. I think its an NASL-style mistake. MLS brass too concerned with footprint; and not concerned enough with quality of the product (on and off the field) but hey, if it makes you feel better you can just assume the people you disagree with are just over-emotional, biased ninnies
If we followed you're plan Seattle (and Portland and Vancouver, also turf) wouldn't be in the league. Somehow I don't see how the league would be improved by that. We don't know what Atlanta will bring so its a little early to go all "the sky is falling" over it. If its another New England, that's bad, but if its another Seattle, that's great. If its another Vancouver then it was still worth it.