Less than two weeks after the announcement that Arthur Blank is bringing an MLS franchise to Atlanta, and three years away from the team’s first game, season-ticket pledges are already brisk.

As of Friday, 3,175 people have joined the Founder’s Club, a group composed of the team’s first 5,000 supporters. Those members have pledged to purchase 9,092 season tickets.

“I’m very excited about our progress,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a statement. “In a little more than a week, we’re at more than 60 percent of the 5,000 fans who will have the opportunity to become founding members, and that’s three years before we play our first game.”

Atlanta is on pace to match or surpass the recent season-ticket sales of other MLS clubs in their inaugural seasons. Seattle, considered the model franchise, sold a league-best 22,000 season tickets in 2009. Toronto sold 14,000 in 2007. Portland sold 12,500 in 2011. Philadelphia capped its season tickets at 12,000 and sold out in 2010.

About the Author

Keep Reading

South Carolina State University head football coach Chennis Berry joined the team in 2023 after coaching at Benedict College, a historically Black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Last year, Berry's team saw its season end in heartbreak in the Celebration Bowl and this time, it ended in triumph with a 40-38 win. (Courtesy of South Carolina State Athletics)

Credit: South Carolina State University Athletics

Featured

A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

Credit: Bita Honarvar