Atlanta United surpasses 40k tickets sold for opener

Atlanta United supporters cheer on the team on Saturday in Chattanooga. (Miguel Martinez)

Atlanta United supporters cheer on the team on Saturday in Chattanooga. (Miguel Martinez)

Atlanta United has sold more than 40,000 tickets for its season-opening game against New York Red Bulls on March 5 at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Club President Darren Eales said the team is on pace to sell out the stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000.

“We are going to go for it and look to sell it out,” he said.

The team sold more than 10,000 single-game tickets in seven days starting Feb. 2, when those ticket sales started. Those and sales of season-tickets spiked again following last week’s 4-0 win over Chattanooga.

Eales said the team is past 27,000 season-tickets sold and approaching 30,000, which was going to be the soft cap. Eales said they will consider increasing that cap if demand persists.

He said the MLS expansion franchise is selling more than 100 season tickets a day since Saturday.

Evidence of the interest could be seen on Saturday when more than 12,000 people attended the game at Finley Stadium. The walk-up crowd exceeded 7,000, which Eales estimated was mostly Atlanta United fans.

The 40,000 sales for the opener has exceeded the soft cap that the team planned as the soccer-configuration capacity for Mercedes-Benz Stadium. MLS average attendance last season was slightly more than 21,692.

Eales said season-tickets will be distributed later this week. The package will include the season-ticket card, a lanyard and commemorative box.

Eales said marketing will increase the home opener. Those efforts will include billboards and wraps on MARTA trains, busses and bus stops.

Other Atlanta United stories posted on Tuesday:


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