Atlanta

Atlanta United have sold more than 27,000 season tickets already

Published Jan. 27, 2017 1:22 p.m. ET

Ryan Rosenblatt

Atlanta United won't play their first match until March, but they've already sold more than 27,000 season tickets. That isn't just the most any MLS expansion team has ever sold, but puts them second in the league for the 2017 season, only behind the Seattle Sounders.

Most impressively, the club still has five weeks to add to that total. They can continue to add season ticket-holders and may very well hit 30,000, which is where they expect to cap season ticket sales. Expansion teams often get a surge of ticket sales in the month leading up to their first match so Atlanta are sitting pretty.

The club will begin play at Bobby Dodd Stadium, the home of Georgia Tech. They are hoping to sell out the 50,000-seat venue for their season opener, but will move into their permanent home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, midseason, when construction finishes. The stadium, which they will share with the Atlanta Falcons, will have tarps over the upper deck, leaving United with a 40,000-seat capacity.

Trying to sell out 40,000 seats every game is ambitious, and that's more seats than any expansion team has ever aimed for, but Atlanta have been exceptional since they were first awarded a team. The construction of their roster, their training facilities, academy, manager and early fan support is unrivaled by any expansion team in MLS history, so aiming for 40,000-per-game in Year 1 isn't unreasonable. After all, they have more than 27,000 locked in, which guarantees them 6,000 more fans per game than the MLS average last season. Not too shabby.

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