Atlanta United FC will have one of the top training grounds in MLS, team president Darren Eales said.
The team and DeKalb County announced Tuesday that they have agreed to a 41-acre site near the Kensington MARTA station that will house the team’s headquarters, training facility and developmental academy under a 30-year agreement. The two sides have sixty days to turn the memorandum of understanding into an executable contract. Construction will begin when that occurs.
Eales said the site was chosen because of its proximity to Atlanta, to Interstate 285 and to MARTA stations that connect the area to the stadium downtown. Also, the stadium can host high school sporting events, graduations or events the county would like to host.
“The idea is to use the badge of Atlanta United to help DeKalb with whatever they want to tackle,” Eales said.
The first phase of the complex, which includes offices for the team, the academy, a 3,500-seat turf-field stadium and three grass fields constructed no later than January 2017, that team owner Arthur Blank projects to cost $35 million. Eales said that they hope to sell naming rights to the complex, of which DeKalb County will receive 15 percent of the revenue. Four teams in MLS have sold naming rights to their practice complexes. Eales said he thinks they have a great chance to secure naming rights.
“This will be one of the top training grounds in MLS in the country,” he said. “Being able to attach ourselves to that is something companies will look to attach themselves to.”
In addition to possibly hosting early-round Open Cup games, Eales said the stadium could host a minor-league United Soccer League team, if they go that route, and some of the smaller exhibition games, or friendlies, hosted by the MLS team. Eales said the turf and the size of the field in the complex’s stadium will be the same as in the downtown stadium. He has stressed numerous times in the past that he wants the younger players in the academy to have the same training experience as the first-team players, which is one of the reasons for the turf at the complex.
“(It’s) all part of our link of being as professional as you can with academy players,” he said.
Some of the team’s front-office staff, such as Eales, will split time between the downtown stadium and the complex. Others will work out of the complex. The team projects to hire 83 people with an annual payroll of $17 million by January 2017, and 123 people with an annual payroll of $19.2 million by January 2018.
A second phase of the project, which would include an indoor facility and three more grass fields, is projected to cost as much as $15 million. Eales said the construction of that project could start a few years after the team’s inaugural season in 2017. The indoor facility might feature a field three-fourths the size of a regular field.
Eales said the team decided on the DeKalb site within the past two weeks after looking at or discussing numerous sites in the past six months, including in Marietta and in Douglas County. Finding the ground for the training site has been one of Eales’ top priorities since he was hired in September 2014. He said he had no concerns that the site is near the DeKalb Jail, saying the area is very safe.
Plans are still being worked out as to how team merchandise and food will be sold at the complex. Eales wants supporters and the community to be able to watch training as often as possible, something he has stressed many times when discussing the complex.
“You will have incredible committed business partners, and incredibly committed community partners,” Blank said.
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