Atlanta United announce record setting season ticket sales

Atlanta United announced today that they have sold 22,000 season tickets and counting for their inaugural season in Major League Soccer. When they kickoff next year, they will have the record for most season tickets sold by an expansion club set by the Seattle Sounders in 2009.

This mark will place them second in the league behind Seattle for season tickets sold today. It also surpasses the average attendance of the every NBA and NHL team. Before kickoff in 2017, they will likely have more season tickets sold than the average attendance of the Atlanta Braves in 2016. Atlanta United president Darren Eales told Dirty South Soccer:

“To think that we’re dwarfing the average attendance already of those sort of leagues is pretty incredible”

Atlanta United will have more season tickets sold than the new stadiums for Minnesota and LAFC will seat.

Getting into some of the specifics of the numbers, Eales told Dirty South Soccer:

“Our supporters section is 3,000 and growing. We’re going to have the largest dedicated supporters section in MLS.

We brought some general admission in because when we took our surveys, it was something the fans wanted. Now we’re going to have to extend that have more general admission available.

8 out of our lower 10 club sections have sold out already.”

One reason for these impressive numbers has been the personal attention given to ticket buyers from their dedicated sales reps in the Atlanta United front office. Eales said:

“When I walk through the city, people come up because I have my Atlanta United top on, they tell me if they’re a season ticket holder. Every single one of them can tell me who their rep was, they feel like they have a point of contact.

I feel that it’s extended that club feel that we’ve had right from the start from the supporters to the front office, we’re building this from scratch. That’s part of why we’re seeing the level of sales, the level of excitement, it’s this feeling that we’re all on this journey together.”

Season tickets will be made available to the general public in the near future, along with a special attention being placed on group sales. Eales said:

“We’re going to want to have people experience the atmosphere by coming to games.”

The MLS league office has been pleasantly surprised by the sales figures Eales and his team have achieved.

“They’re amazed. I think they thought Atlanta was going to be a good market from a media perspective, from a geographic perspective, from a brilliant owner in Arthur and a wonderful stadium.”

Season ticket sales will have a limit at some point in the future. In addition to all of the special benefits that are being provided to Founders’ Club members like that surprise flags that were sent out this summer, more exciting things are planned to reward them.

When asked about the Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s proposed June 1 opening date, Eales said:

“We’re still tracking for the June opening. Like any construction project, you just hope that everything ticks along and we get to that June 1st opening.”

Owner Arthur Blank reiterated those comments earlier this week at a luncheon at the Atlanta Press Club and during halftime of the Atlanta Falcons preseason game broadcast last night.