Atlanta Beat stadium discussion

We've a;ready gotten our tickets! Can't wait, though I still say that the drive to Kennesaw will be quite a stretch for most soccer-lovin' folk in the metro-ATL area. Even with no traffic, it's a good 45 mins. from Decatur. Maybe they'll have a "Party Bus" leaving from one of the MARTA stations.

 

Re: Atlanta finally announced the stadium

This is awesome. I love Atlanta. Back in my college days when I lived in South Carolina, I would go to Atlanta to watch Dale Murphy, Glen Hubbard, and the rest of the Braves at old Fulton County stadium.

With their own new women's soccer specific stadium, Atlanta can be the front runner in the WPS, organization-wise.

I will definately have to make a trip from Chicago to Atlanta when the Beat plays the Red Stars.

 

Re: Atlanta finally announced the stadium

It is on the more southern side of Kennesaw and looks to be relatively easily accessible from both I-75 and I-575. From the middle of downtown it is probably about 20-25 minutes without much traffic and about 10 minutes up 75 from the 285 loop.

Also on the marta thing, it doesn't come anywhere near Kennesaw. I live in Smyrna and using marta to go downtown we either have to go over to Dunwoody or down to Lindbergh and park there and ride marta.

 

Here is another article on the new stadium: http://equalizersoccer.com/WebPages/news/newsDetails.aspx?nId=4ec525fb-a22d-42a2-bf2b-42bf65b5a59f

One interesting piece of information in the article is that Atlanta is currently 2nd in total number of season tickets sold, which is an impressive accomplishment.

I completely understand concerns about the commute because I have to travel 45 minutes to get to the Freedom games - the Plex is about 30 miles from downtown Washington DC, but since most games were on the weekend the travel time wasn't too bad.

I am looking forward to coming down to catch a game this summer - it will be a good excuse for me to visit my cousins in Marietta!

 

Charbs, I agree that the number of tickets sold by Atlanta is not only a great sign, but very surprising. Up until now, I had not heard anything of their ticket sales and because of that, was unsure of how well things were going. I think this stadium announcement will only boost that even more. If I lived in Atlanta, I don't care how far out of downtown this stadium is. I would be there every game. I might even make the trip down from NY just for the inaugural game I am so impressed.

I think one key point that also came out is that Rossetti is in charge of the stadium's design, which means you know that it will be done right. They are the kings of building soccer stadiums....seriously. Great news for the league and Atlanta.

 

Re: Atlanta finally announced the stadium

Thanks for the info and the link. Good to know that they aren't trying to start from scratch and complete the project in 4 months. That was my biggest concern with the announcement. That the stadium just wouldn't be finished in time. Now I can just worry about the same things for Atlanta that I worry about for the rest of the league: sponsorship sales, ticket sales, marketing, general survival.

The possibility of making some money from concerts (ie that stage) is an intriguing move for an alternative revenue stream for a women's team. There are MLS teams that make money from the other events held in their stadium. I don't know much about the concert circuit in ATL to know if this stadium can fit a niche there.

How often does traffic behave around ATL

Evening games in July/August would be good. Even with some afternoon games, I think that if they sold drinks for less than what one normally expects in a stadium (ie not $6 for a coke) they'd sell more concessions in the summer. That and the general psychological fan good will of "hey, these are reasonable prices for drinks. These games really are affordable. I'll come back." But I'm kinda a cheapskate and I really hate it when I feel like teams/events are gouging fans for beverages regardless of the ticket prices.

 

The stadium's proximity to the interstate will make the trip a little quicker. Probably 40 minutes from downtown if traffic is moving. The mock-up looks great, and I am thrilled to hear about the healthy season ticket sales. I've got my tickets and can't wait until Spring!

 

Hello All,

This is Shawn McGee, the GM of the Beat. I wanted to jump on and introduce myself.

I will try to pop on the board every so often and share with you our vision and answer any of your questions....so fire away. I will try to answer anything that I can. And, if it takes me some time (I am not good at this whole social media thing), you can always email me at smcgee@theatlantabeat.com. I always have time for some soccer chat.

Please know that we are working hard every day to make this franchise the Best In The World. I know that may sound odd, but this league is the best in the world and we are working hard every day to be the best organization in the league. We have tons of work to do, but have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Stay with us for many more announcements...including players, sponsorships, promotions, etc...

Also, you can always follow me on twitter at ATLBeatGM (I think...).

Oh yeah, and I would have done this on a new thread, but apparently, BS would not let me (guess I am a newbie, so was not allowed)....maybe the hall monitor can help me out with that...

Lastly, I will apologize now for my poor typing skills. Please forgive all of my future mistakes.

Hey, we truly appreciate your support...and we truly need it...not only in buying tickets and cheering the team on, but also in spreading the gospel out there for us in cyberspace. Keep the Beat loud out there.

It is going to be fun ride!

Thanks and Go Beat!

 

Welcome to the forum Shawn, I'm looking forward to your insights here from time to time.

 

Thanks. Look froward to getting to know everyone and to share with you all the goings-on at the Beat.

Any idea on who the moderator is? And how I can start a new thread?

 

Hi,

Are you guys going to put on a big advertising blitz before the season starts? I know the previous team had backing from a major communications company in this town and a lot of their advertising may have been free, but it would be good to know about schedules, game times, and that sort of thing. I live fairly close to KSU, and plan to come out to a few games.

Welcome aboard!

 

Whoever wrote this article has evidently never, ever, been to Silverbacks Park. It has nowhere near 15,000 seats (3-4000 at the moment)! The 15,000 seats was part of an expansion plan that was to happen over time, and hasn't happened yet. KSU is twice as big as Silverbacks Park.

 

Bonnie Lass, thanks for getting me squared away. No worries. I totaly understand why they would like to keep the likes of me off here... Also, I will take your lead on if I should make this a new thread, but will post it here...if you wish to move it to a new thread, please feel free.

Thanks to all of you who have emailed me personally. I apprecaite the kind words and the welcomes. Like I said, I am always up for some soccer chat.

To answer DavidP's question...the fact is that we are on a VERY lean budget this year. With the costs of building a stadium (in partnership with our great friends at KSU) and putting a team together, we are truly going to be light on marketing this year. Our efforts will be mostly grassroots. We will have 1-2 Street Teams that are, in fact, already hitting soccer fields accross north GA. We will continue to attend soccer tournaments, camps, league games...and various community events. We felt that with our limited budget this year, it is best for us to go grassroots and try to sell people one-on-one.

I am a marketing major and I know that you marketing types are shaking your heads, but the fact is that we can only stretch our dollars so far..and we believe that true touches to the consumer is better for us at this time...as opposed to mass makering and advertising (again based on the budget we have to spend).

I can tell you that we are working on some partnerships with various newspapers, radio stations and TV stations. This will, hopefully, allow us to get some pub and some spots to market our brand, our tickets and our stadium. Hopefully, we will have some announcements on that front in January or February.

In addition, we will work with our coporate partners to take our brand and message to market via relationships they have with retail outlets, like grocery and/or convenience stores.

Also, we are getting some traction in the social media realm. Our press releases are getting picked up all over the place...which is helping us get some recognition. Hopefully, that will continue to grow.

Lastly, I know that many people have stated that it looks like we have not been active on the player front. There is nothing further from the truth. We have been VERY active. In fact, our roster is getting full. However, we are choosing to take our time in terms of making player announcments. There will be some released in very short order. However, we are working to ensure our announcements are strategically placed, so that we can remain in the news/get in the news as much as possible.

Again, I apologize for my poor typing... Have a great night.

 

Thanks for posting shawn, it's good to know what your up to. If you can answer this, then please do. Have any internationals been signed? If you can't release names yet of them, could you just answer yes or no, or if you can't even do that then that's fine. Good luck in 2010!

 

Well, I guess you have to do with what you have. Just don't take the Silverbacks' route of doing nothing. A little can go a long way.

Best of luck to you!

 

DavidP, thanks for understanding our position and our vision on the marketing aspect. We promise to work hard every day to get the team and the brand out there in the community.

Freekicks, as you probably know, we have the rights to the following players: Bachmann, Rasmussen, Sjogran, Yamaguchi, OCampo and Goncalves. We are in communication with them to begin working on getting them over here, as well as to work on contracts.

While we have their rights, nothing is finalized yet in regards to contracts. Also, so that you know, we do not make announcements until the ink is dry on the paper. We anticipate being able to make some annoucnements soon. Stay tuned.

 

Reignking - we are speaking to the AJC and hope to create a mutually beneficial partnership. We will see....

 

Have you also included local Fox Channel as Fox, I think, broadcasted a weekly WPS game last season?