Club executive interview

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A century ago, the city of Atlanta was considered to be the vital centre for all Southern railways. Today it continues to be a thriving city for business and travel. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, for instance, enjoyed a 22-year streak as “busiest airport in the world” from 1998 to 2020. These very ideals of “connecting” and “connection” also form the basis for Atlanta United. Its mantra is “to unite and connect.” 

When the club was founded in 2014, one of the main pillars of its strategy was to become a part of the fabric of the community. Owner, Arthur Blank, is a previous transplant to Atlanta, and outwardly expresses his desire to see it grow. Blank is a cofounder of The Home Depot – the largest home improvement retailer in the USA – and owns both Atlanta United and the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons.

Blank continues to meaningfully contribute to the local community, for example by developing under-privileged areas of Atlanta’s Westside to combat poverty. It is no coincidence that Mercedes-Benz Stadium is situated in that part of town. Residents have come to learn not only about Blank, but what his sports franchises represent through his involvement.  

For Atlanta United, the club officially began to play as a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in 2017 and has achieved a lot in a short time. The club won an MLS Cup, a US Open Cup and was the first MLS team to win the Campeones Cup within its first three seasons. It also qualified for the Concacaf Champions League in 2019 and 2020. 

“We did put an emphasis on trying to win early and often,” says Carlos Bocanegra, Vice President and Technical Director of Atlanta United. Bocanegra credits the hype and fanfare baked into the club when it launched.

“When you’re at the beginning —when you’re launching any product, especially in sports — a winning team was very helpful for the city to latch onto.”

Bocanegra said the combination of having the willing presence of the club's owner, being given the resources to be successful and a two-year head start to try and build momentum into its first season proved to be the right one. 

Those two years before the team’s debut on the pitch were marked by a focus on integrating into the community. Whether it was attending pub crawls or other events, Atlanta United wanted to build a strong connection to its burgeoning fan base, but also to establish that it was a team people would want to support. That included inviting fans to provide input on everything from the club’s name, its colours and a mascot to the choice of beer that would be offered at the stadium.

And Mercedes-Benz Stadium itself represents a big part of the draw. Reputed to be one of the world’s best stadiums, it is a main driver to connect fans and the community to Atlanta United. The state-of-the-art facilities speak directly to the fan experience. For instance, the stadium holds 71,000 people (expandable to 75,000 for American football matches in the NFL), but seats are 21 inches wide which translates into comfortable seating. Its “Window to the City”, provides a view of the Atlanta skyline and its retractable roof allows for natural lighting, giving the feel of an outdoor event at a controlled temperature. Its technology is widely admired, with such features as a 63,000 square feet video board that gives a 360-degree video screen in high definition where fans can watch live-action highlights. The stadium emphasises “fan pricing” designed to be ultra-affordable.

These details add to the fan support the team receives. Bocanegra emphasises the diverse make-up of the crowds on matchdays, representing how cosmopolitan the city of Atlanta has become. Like its owner, many are transplants who have adopted the team as its own. Football is still relatively new in the USA and Bocanegra sees this as a unique aspect of the sport. Many people who support Atlanta United likely grew up without having a MLS franchise to support, he says, and so the bond becomes strong almost immediately for the most ardent of fans. 

Bocanegra credits the club’s successful launch to the excitement generated by its fan base. To that end, Atlanta United wanted game play to be exciting and “high intensity, high octane” for its supporters. And Atlanta United have aspirations to become a recognisable global brand. How it will achieve that is to one day win the Concacaf Champions League and participate in  — and win — the FIFA Club World Cup. Atlanta United place a premium on building visibility through playing in the Concacaf Champions League. It is here that the overall benefit to the club becomes clear. It is not an exceptional opportunity, not only in terms of play, but also in terms of business, commercial, sponsorship and attracting talent. 

But to have a sustainable model, this requires players coming through the academy to get into the first team and to contribute to play. Bocanegra says that academy players take to the pitch in the United Soccer League (USL), but reside at the training ground with the first team. The academy launched six months before the first team was up and running. The training ground has six pitches altogether, three grass and three artificial.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium also serves as an excellent recruiting tool. It offers an array of amenities, everything from a full restaurant, to hot and cold tubs, saunas, a barber chair and the tactics room. “When you are recruiting players and you can show them that you have this to offer, it’s a big help,” says Bocanegra.

Combining these two aspects together, this helps to foster a winning mentality within the club.

When all is said and done, the ideal set-up is for some of Atlanta United’s young players to take positions overseas, come back and then help the team win. “It’s just part of what we want to build,” says Bocanegra.

With a new MLS season already underway in 2021, the club has once again set its sights on winning. Atlanta United’s immediate goals are to get into the play-offs and hopefully to take the MLS Cup – most assuredly with Atlanta fans cheering them on.