Atlanta became the 22nd franchise in MLS on Wednesday.
The team will begin play in 2017 and its home will be the new downtown stadium. It’s name and logo will be decided by the fans.
League commissioner Don Garber and team owner Arthur Blank sat down for a lengthy exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
Questions and answers have been edited and paraphrased.
Q: Why will MLS work in Atlanta?
Blank: Atlanta's the ninth-largest market in the U.S. Youth soccer is tremendously successful. We think this franchise will be wonderful in the southeast. The location in downtown Atlanta will attract urban, young youthful fans that we think is incredible. Stadium will be easy to get to by car or public transportation.
There were a lot of factors that came together.
Garber: We think soccer will work anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. I feel very differently than I might have felt 10 years ago.
When you look at what’s been driving success in our league, it’s been visionary and passionate ownership; we have that in Arthur Blank.
A great organization; we certainly have that with the Falcons. Ethnic diversity; the city certainly reflects the new America. Downtown stadium location that is state of the art. (We will have) the newest, best building in North America.
When you connect all of those dots, it makes Atlanta rise to the top of any expansion list we have.
I went to the airport today, a father and son from Nashville said, ‘I hear you are here for an expansion team in Atlanta.’ They asked, ‘When are you bringing MLS to Nashville?’”
Q: What has changed in the past 10 years?
Garber: The country has changed. The demographics are shifting rapidly. Arthur's son is a great example of that. His extended family is a bigger example of that. Kids decades ago were growing up with other sports. When they become parents, when they go to college and grow up and can influence purchase decisions, they are connecting to the sports they played.
Today those kids are playing soccer, and they are growing up and influencing decisions that are made, including what sporting events they are going to buy and what events they will watch on television. What’s changed is the explosion of the Hispanic population.
Third is globalization, the influx of international soccer in our country. It has kids watching and fans watching more than they’ve ever had the opportunity to do. That allows us to tap into that interest.
Those are the key drivers that makes today different than 10 years ago.
Blank: There are business reasons why we think this is the right thing to do. Our family of businesses is so connected to the community. You think of soccer, and youth and staying fit, these are all issues that our family foundations cares deeply about. They all tie in to the good soccer model that is internationally incredibly successful, but now in the U.S. continues to grow.
At the Falcons, we are very focused on fans. One of the beauties of soccer is it is very much focused on the fans. It’s fan-driven, local-driven, that passion is felt strongly. Our partners relate to that. Atlanta will relate to that as well.
Q: Did you come close to purchasing a team when you first expressed interest in 2004?
Blank: Not really. We got into discussions. We got familiar with it. We understood it. We felt it was always something that we wanted to do.
We couldn’t make the economics make any sense. We kind of knew that we were going to have our stadium designed at some point. We (weren’t sure) whether or not a large stadium could be intimate enough to accommodate a small soccer crowd. The design of our stadium will accommodate that.
Garber: Ten years ago if the idea was to go into the old Georgia Dome, neither of us would have thought that was a good idea.
That was pre-Seattle Sounders. They will do 65,000-66,000 for some regular-season Sounders games. Our league is not yet 20 years old. We are evolving our thinking.
The formula for us is a downtown environment, particularly in Atlanta, where most people don’t realize how many young people in the millennium category now live in this city and can walk to the stadium.
They can walk to the stadium and create an environment that we didn’t have 5-10 years ago in the league. We can’t take credit for it. It just evolved as this country has become more of a soccer-oriented nation than we even dreamed it would be 10 years ago.
Blank: We will learn from partners in MLS and soccer partners worldwide what are the best practices, what are the things we can do so that the fans do feel a sincere sense of ownership.
Q: What’s next for the franchise?
Blank: We will hire a team president. We will look for the best of the best, which is the way we run all of our businesses. We will build an organization from that point forward.
Jim Smith (Falcons vice president of marketing and former president of the Columbus Crew) will not be the team’s general manager. His plate is overflowing.
Q: Why did you not consider purchasing the Silverbacks and moving them up, a path taken by a few other MLS teams?
Blank: We have a good relationship with them. MLS has a good relationship with them. They have a fine stadium and a nice location, and I think they do OK.
Collaboration and partnership is going to be critical for us at all levels. As you know we are required to operate a minimum of three Academy-level teams.
We will be looking at ways to clasp hands and grow the sport together in a healthy way.
Q: Will the new team play the first game in the new stadium?
Blank: Yes.
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