On a white pill in Fayetteville

In a cynical world, the soccer and sporting community in Atlanta is pushing forward together.

Monday made me happy, and a proud Georgian.

Tucked away in the woods of Fayetteville, off an unassuming country road that couldn’t look any more beautiful than it did in the splendor of a perfect spring day, sat a white tent with business leaders and executives from a number of commercial, social and political institutions. 

There they were – USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone and CEO JT Batson, Atlanta visionary Arthur Blank, AMBSE CEO Rich McKay, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp, Atlanta United Vice President and former U.S. Men’s National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra, ATLUTD Chief Business Officer Skate Noftsinger, former Chick-Fil-A CEO and Trilith Development Founder Dan Cathy, and many more municipal and sporting leaders – coming together to celebrate the groundbreaking of U.S. Soccer’s construction of a new National Training Center. 

The very ground they sat on will soon become the foundation for over 300,000 square feet of high-performance facilities, locker rooms, meeting rooms and headquarters space. Down the rolling hillside, just past the large oak tree adjacent to the tent, will be the majority of the 12 to 13 fields that will be located at the new facility, named the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center.

It feels surreal to think that Atlanta, once known as a sports city for pretty much everything but soccer, will now be the new home of the sport in America.

“It's pretty amazing that you think about just how excited people are just for the SEC championship game in football here,” said Governor Kemp. “Obviously, we've had Final Fours in basketball, national championship games, Super Bowls, but to think about this global sport – really, I mean, it is a worldwide sport – we're going to see that especially during the World Cup. And to have U.S. Soccer headquartered here in Georgia, it's a big statement for our state, for the city of Atlanta and the local Fayetteville community.”