In order to avoid a three month road-trip, 2017 MLS expansion side Atlanta United has announced a plan to start their inaugural campaign playing home matches at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd stadium
Atlanta United has already had their first setback as an MLS club.
Today, the MLS expansion side announced a plan to start their inaugural season playing home matches at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd stadium. The club’s actual home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, won’t be completed until next summer. Originally, the club planned to start the season on the road until they had a completed stadium.
Atlanta cited a promise to be competitive as possible from Day 1 in their announcement, stating that a balanced home and away schedule will afford the team a better chance to do that. Darren Eales, president of Atlanta United, said:
"“Our aim is to build a championship caliber soccer club and to be as competitive as we can from the start. With the amount of excitement we’ve seen for the club, especially over the past few months as our season ticket sales have continued to rise, it was evident that playing at home for the first part of the season was in the best interest of our fans and our players. We’re very pleased that we are able to open the 2017 MLS season at Bobby Dodd Stadium.”"
The incredible fan support they have received was another key factor in Atlanta’s decision. Even though they have yet to play a single match they have incredible support. The side recently broke MLS-record ticket sales for an expansion team when it crossed the 22,000 threshold. They also tout one of the largest supporter group in MLS with over 3,000 tickets sold as of now. The club wants to give fans a balanced schedule so they can see their squad early in the season.
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The club informed Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, the club’s first manager, of the decision during contract negotiations. He welcomed the idea to get a home match in front of the fans as soon as possible.
While some supporters may be weary of playing in a college football stadium to start their first MLS season, this will almost certainly help their club. With travel being such a sore point of MLS, having a three-month road-trip to start the season could have serious consequences on a club’s spot in the table. Atlanta’s season could have very well been unsalvageable before they even played their first home match.