on atlanta's selection as a bid city

This afternoon, Atlanta was named as one of the 18 cities that would be included in US Soccer's bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. As a current resident of Atlanta, and a lifelong Georgia resident, I'm obviously beyond thrilled that Atlanta was selected. There's obviously no guarantee that it'll be among the final 12 cities if we actually get the bid from FIFA, but the fact that it was among the 18 has me feeling quite proud to be an Atlantan, so I've decided to draft up a few reasons why I, as an Atlanta resident, think the city deserves the World Cup (this will, eventually, be followed up by a more negative post about MLS expansion, but that's for another day now):

1. We've proven we can host international matches. A friendly between Mexico and Venezuela this summer drew over 50,000 to the Georgia Dome. The AC Milan-Club America game, which I attended, also got over 50,000. I can't speak for the atmosphere at the Mexico game, though I'm sure it was amazing, but the Milan-Club America game was fantastic. Fans everywhere, cheering, singing, taking over the CNN Center food court before the game…it was awesome. Oh, and we hosted a little event called the 1996 Olympics, which you may have heard of.


2. We've got the support. Over 14,000 people signed the GoUSABid petition for Atlanta. The only city with more signatures? Seattle, with over 19,000 (and I've got a strong feeling the Sounders had a lot to do with that). The Georgia Youth Soccer Association made a strong push for people to sign the petition and make a donation to the GoUSABid committee. Did anyone else do that? Not that I know of. (though I just found out about Atlanta's donation today, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)


3. It's our time now. Atlanta has always gotten the short end of the stick for soccer. No MLS team, the Silverbacks sitting out the USL season in 2009 and then being dropped from the new NASL/USL second division, never hosting USMNT games, the Beat coming in as an expansion team and not automatically getting two USWNT players like the other teams did…it's time for Atlanta to finally step up and show why they shouldn't have been passed over all those other times. Shine on, Atlanta.