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18 January 2009

Sorry Atlanta, Aruthur Blank Withdraws his bid for an MLS Expansion Team

Blame it on the State budget, blame it on the overall economy, blame it something...but no matter where the blame is placed - Atlanta, and indeed the entire Southern US, will remain without an MLS franchise for the foreseeable future.

In an statement issued by Kim Shreckengost, executive vice president at the AMB Group LLC and Arthur Blank’s chief of staff said:

"In mid-October, AMB Group submitted its bid application to own and operate a Major League Soccer team in metro Atlanta. We recently informed MLS officials that we will not be ready to field a team in the 2011 season, which is the season currently under review for two expansion teams, primarily because we didn't feel we would be able to complete a public/private partnership arrangement in the timeframe necessary to build a soccer stadium by 2011."


Read the complete article at the Atlanta Business Chronicle here.

So Atlanta soccer fans hoping for an MLS franchise will have to once again wait...and wait...and wait.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not surprising. There will never,ever be public financing for a soccer stadium in this state. Red Neckerson says so.

Editor said...

I think a 35,000 seat Soccer Specific Stadium in Cobb would be perfect!

All kidding aside, I was never quite willing to fight traffic at Spaghetti junction for a lot of the Silverbacks matches, but for MLS, I'd figure out a way - no matter where in the Metro area they build the stadium.