Sports HQ opens in Fayette, aiming to cement soccer supremacy in Georgia
Imagine if Midtown’s sprawling Piedmont Park were dedicated solely to soccer.
That’s what the United States Soccer Federation debuted Thursday roughly 22 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta. The 200-acre Fayetteville facility is a fútbol showcase, entrenching Georgia as the center of the international sport’s growth in America.
“There is something incredibly powerful about having a place to call your home,” Oguchi Onyewu, former U.S. national team player and U.S. Soccer Federation executive, said. “Today, that’s exactly what this is — our home, and the home for the entire soccer community in this country.”
Onyewu was joined by Georgia dignitaries, business leaders and sports stars, all of whom gathered to christen the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center. The facility includes the federation’s headquarters, nearly 20 soccer fields and every sports-related amenity imaginable for athletes ranging from youth players to worldwide stars.
By cutting the ribbon, the $200 million-plus project became the latest effort aimed at making metro Atlanta the home base of soccer, especially as the 2026 World Cup approaches and promises to entrance the city in fútbol festivities.
The scale of the facility along Veterans Parkway, just north of Trilith Studios, is immense. And that’s by design.
It’s trying to replicate the feeling and purpose of other athletic cathedrals, such as what Augusta National means for golf and Wimbledon represents for tennis.
The facility “is envisioned as a timeless soccer campus that elevates performance while remaining grounded in the enduring traditions of the world’s most respected sporting environments,” Andrew Jacobs, principal and design director for Gensler, the project’s architect, said in a statement.
He added that the design “prioritizes restraint, craft, and longevity over trend-driven expression.”
Lit by hexagonal light fixtures that imitate a soccer ball’s pattern, the headquarters offices are sleek, modern and functional. It’s a clean aesthetic that bleeds into the indoor courts and fields, which are cavernous spaces for practice.
There’s an opulent gym featuring Nike-branded weights and lifting equipment boasting screens and pressure pads. A hydrotherapy wing includes sleeping pods, hot tubs, cooling baths and a menagerie of massage beds.
The eight locker rooms nearby run the gamut from youth lockers to spaces that rival those in professional stadiums.
Standing alongside two young Georgia soccer players, Onyewu told the crowd Thursday the center is intended to prepare the next generation.
“They’ll be able to train here, grow here and carry forward the standard that continues to elevate soccer in this country for generations,” he said.
The indoor spaces are all to service the grassy knoll of outdoor soccer pitches that take up more space than the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The project was announced in late 2023, consolidating U.S. soccer locations in Atlanta from various other places, including California and Chicago. Fayette County officials issued $200 million in bonds to help finance the project. The bonds make up the majority of incentives that state and local officials offered the federation to woo U.S. Soccer to metro Atlanta.
The center was also supported by a $50 million donation from Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank — hence the facility’s name. Chick-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola also made financial commitments to the training facility.
Blank is credited with Atlanta’s recent soccer explosion. He established the Atlanta United franchise in 2017, which plays alongside the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Blank is also investing $330 million to launch a NWSL team in Atlanta, which will begin playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2028.
“Soccer brings so many great attributes, human actions together in the most beautiful way as a byproduct of the brilliance of the sport being played,” Blank said. “I hope I can be part of that growth.”
The Fayetteville soccer headquarters project opens as a feather in the cap of Georgia officials who are vying to become the nation’s soccer capital — an effort rivaled by Kansas City.
The facility opens about a month before both cities host several World Cup matches. The Metro Atlanta Chamber’s chief economist projects about $500 million in economic impact from visitor spending in Georgia across the eight World Cup matches.
About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
