Atlanta Turns on the Cash Taps and Goes Soccer Crazy!

While I have been working on my account of my time in the Atlanta Attack front office (the eagerly awaited "The Soccerball Years, part 2") several prominent citizens of my home town have decided to throw caution (and a lot of cash) to the wind and invest heavily in new professional soccer franchises.

Investing in a professional soccer club in Atlanta is not for the weak of heart. I've recently described the first two incarnations of the Atlanta Chiefs (1967-1973 and 1979-1982 respectively). Since then the following clubs have come and gone: the Georgia Generals (1982), the Atlanta Attack (1989-1991), the Atlanta Express (1990-1992), the Atlanta Steamers/Quicksilver/Lightning (1990-1992), the Atlanta Magic (1991-1996), the Atlanta Silverbacks (1995-2008), and lastly our professional women's team, the Atlanta Beat (2001-2003). Attending a meeting of Atlanta soccer investors is therefore like going into a Las Vegas casino: don't take any money with you that you can't afford to lose.

You'd think that Atlanta might have run out of people willing to get their fingers burned on this, but you would be wrong. Check this out....




Yes, that's right, thanks to local resident T. Fitz Johnson and his expansive wallet, Atlanta will have its own WOMEN'S professional team next year. And no, that really scary sports presenter was not lying, the Beat did have a 'nice' following. Nice enough to be the best supported club in the ill fated Women's United Soccer Association, but not nice enough to be able to survive once the league had failed. Now that there is a new national pro soccer league, the Beat are reforming. Its about time, I say. The US women's team has won two world cups. We are the Brazil of women's soccer. We need a viable league and a team in Atlanta!!!

Now, if you were paying attention to paragraph two of this entry, you may have noticed that Atlanta is missing a senior men's team at the moment. The Atlanta Silverbacks, who had been playing in the American equivalent of the Championship (the United Soccer Leagues, or USL), folded last year. The only club left in a city of three million people was an Under-23 development league team. Would Atlanta be the home to a women's top flight club, but not even have a men's team at all?

No, as it turns out. Move over mysterious, middle-eastern Premiership club owners, some real estate developers from the "Big Peach" have trumped anything you have done. Just today, an Atlanta-based company called NuRock has just gone and bought the entire USL! That's right, Atlanta may not have a club in the league, but now the league itself belongs to an Atlanta company. And, of course, the new owners have granted themselves an option for a new Atlanta franchise.

I know that the American soccer leagues are not held in especially high esteem by European football fans. That is mostly a perception of the quality of play. What can't be doubted, though, is that there is some serious money behind both of these moves. Even without superstar salaries you can't employ an entire roster of full time players, rent a stadium, and fly your team around a country as big as America on the cheap. Whatever Atlanta's failings as a soccer town, it has not run out of local millionaires willing to put their money up to give it another go.

Here is my guess how things will go: the Beat will do relatively well if they just copy what the first incarnation of the Beat did. The bigger question is if the new "Women's Professional Soccer" will last. NuRock obviously have oodles of cash. After establishing a new team in the USL I expect they will make a move to get their team into the top flight Major League Soccer (MLS). In England this would be done by rich owners spending lots of cash on big signings who would hopefully win the club a Premiership berth. In America, where there is no relegation and promotion, it is a much simpler process: just spend lots of money. As long as the cash continues to flow freely and this new Atlanta team gets decent support the MLS will eventually grant it an expansion slot in their growing league. And, as the recent trend is to name new teams after the failed soccer franchises of the '80s, it may not be too long before I am cheering on the Atlanta Chiefs once again!

Now, can we find any spare Atlanta property-developer-millionaires who want to throw a bit of money at Bath City?