MLS officially awards Atlanta next expansion team

Major League Soccer is coming to Atlanta.

The league officially announced on Wednesday that the city will be be home to MLS’s next expansion team. In a press conference filled with media and fans, commissioner Don Garber welcomed the new club’s owner Arthur Blank to their ranks.

Atlanta’s club does not yet have a name, but their colors will be red, black and yellow, and it will begin play in 2017 at a stadium being built downtown near the Georgia Dome. The stadium will seat 65,000 and house the Atlanta Falcons, but will have curtains to create a false roof above the first level and create a more intimate setting for the 20,000-30,000 capacity expected for MLS. The artificial turf field will be wide enough for a regular sized pitch.

Blank is the co-founder of Home Depot and the owner of the Falcons, making him the newest billionaire and owner of another sports team to join the MLS owner ranks. He does not have any affiliation with the Atlanta Silverbacks, the fairly well supported NASL team in the city, but both he and Garber indicated that they would try to work with the Silverbacks.

Atlanta is considered the capital of the south and is the No. 9 TV market in the country. MLS’s expansion to the city gives the league a team in each of the top 10 TV markets, which has been a priority for a league that has grown exponentially in revenue, in-stadium support and stability, but has struggled to improve its TV ratings.

MLS is currently at 19 teams, with New York City FC and Orlando City SC set to join the league in 2015. Miami has also been awarded a team, though that is contingent on their getting a stadium deal done. The league has announced that they want to expand to 24 teams by 2020, meaning there is one spot left up for grabs, which most people believe will go to Minneapolis.