How Atlanta Unexpectedly Became the Epicenter of U.S. Soccer

In 2015, Sarah Kate Noftsinger considered a marketing job with Major League Soccer’s planned expansion team in Atlanta. She’ll never forget a mentor’s reaction when she told him about the opportunity. “He literally looked at me and goes, ‘It’s career suicide that you’re going to go work, or even thinking about going to work, in soccer in Atlanta, Georgia,’” Noftsinger tells Front Office Sports .

“‘What are you doing? ’” Georgia has always been a storied and active sports market, underscored by the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, frequent college championships at the Georgia Dome, and passionate SEC and ACC fandom for the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. But a decade ago, Atlanta sports were struggling at the pro level.

The city lost the Thrashers to Winnipeg in 2011, which marked the second failure for the NHL in Atlanta after the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980. In 2013, the Braves admitted they faced “real challenges” that they “didn’t believe could be overcome” at their stadium, and announced they would move out of downtown Atlanta. In June 2015, The New York Times ranked Atlanta No.

2 on its list of “The Most Cursed Sports Cities in America. ” Nelson Rodríguez, MLS EVP of sporting and matchday, tells FOS he was originally a “hard no” on the idea of MLS in Atlanta because of “what pro sports wasn’t doing” there. Noftsinger, despite her mentor’s uncertainty, still flew down for the interview.