Originally posted Wednesday, August 1, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Upfront, I readily admit I know zip about soccer but as a radio geek, I know soccer is now big enough for SiriusXM to dedicate an entire channel for it, something it started about five years ago.
The satellite service flew three of their hosts to Atlanta for the Major League Soccer All Star Game, which airs tonight at 7:30 p.m. to a crowd that will likely exceed 70,000. Five of the all stars are from the Atlanta United.
I spoke with each of them about the surprising popularity and success of Atlanta United and how it impacts MLS, which in the world’s eyes is still considered a second-tier soccer league.
Jason Davis: A man who worked a dull accounts payable job, he was able to parlay his passion for soccer first into a blog, then a podcast, then into a daily full-paying radio job with SiriusXM called "The United States of Soccer" from noon to 2 p.m. each day.
The league’s soccer quality isn’t up there with the top leagues in Europe, he said. It’s closer to, say, Belgium or Switzerland, than Italy or England.
“This is not the kind of place where players with potential to play in the big leagues go,” Davis said.
He said Arthur Blank came in and threw out the old template for how MLS operated. "Everything is bigger than what anybody has done in this league by a factor of two or three."
Blank was willing to spend the money on a Premier League executive Darren Eales, a former U.S. National Team player Carlos Bocanegra as a technical director and a respected South American coach Gerardo "Tata" Martina. "He brought immediate credibility," Davis said.
And they recruited younger players who might have potential to play in the big leagues in Europe rather than take older players who are close to retirement, a tactic MLS teams have taken for years. Atlanta United wants to cultivate players that can be sold to prestige teams overseas.
Tony Meola, a former MLS player from New Jersey who helped start the SiriusXM channel as a host of "Counter Attack" from 4 to 7 p.m. He was on the U.S. National Team for 20 years.
“It’s really incredible what they’ve done here,” he said. “They’ve quickly become a model for the rest of the league on how to engage the community and how to build and structure a team. They have a young, attacking team, a team that likes to press.”
Just walking around downtown, he said he couldn’t avoid the Atlanta United presence. And Mercedes Benz Stadium? “A gem. It’s gorgeous. Now the goal is to see if all this is sustainable. But man! What a start!’
Meola said Atlanta was clearly an untapped reservoir based on its youth soccer league culture. “Atlanta has been a soccer hotbed from that standpoint for years,” he said.
Brian Dunseth, another "Counter Attack" host and former MLS player and captain of the U.S. Olympic soccer team in 2000:
“Soccer was the Wild West when I started. It’s come a long way. I was here a couple of weeks ago for ESPN and what Arthur Blank has done is nothing short of phenomenal. Everything is falling into place. Back in 2005, expansion teams cost $5 million. The next round of expansion will cost $200 million.”
He said Blank has taken casual soccer followers and turned them into rabid Atlanta United fans. The in-game atmosphere has fueled the excitement, he said. “It’s become a hot ticket, a must-see ticket,” Dunseth said. “Random people say they aren’t into the Hawks or Braves or Falcons but got drug into a United game and fell in love.”
Blank, he said, “is changing the narrative in how the MLS is seen in the world.”
You can listen to the All-Star game live tonight on SiriusXM Channel 157.
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