Darren Eales: Our goals is to get 70,000 attendance for every home match

Darren Eales appeared on the newest Men in Blazers podcast alongside host Roger Bennett to discuss Atlanta United and the culture developing around the club.

Eales spoke about building the club from scratch, including hiring a coach and buying players, but what stood out most was his praise for the city itself. When discussing the attendance records that Atlanta United have been smashing, Eales said that the goal is to have 70,000 fans in Mercedes-Benz Stadium “week in, week out” and “the fanbase is there... it’s only going to get bigger.”

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He recounted his journey, from joining the club in 2014 to witnessing over 70,000 fans in attendance for a home game in Atlanta. He not only raved about the growth of soccer in the United States, but also the growth of the sport in Atlanta and how the city have embraced the team.

The interview showed that despite a record-setting first season in Major League Soccer, Darren Eales and the rest of the Atlanta United front office refuse to settle and want to make the club the driving force behind the league’s growth.

Eales praised the club’s academy and how quickly it’s grown, as well as the fanbase putting false narratives to bed, saying, “We heard about Atlanta being a fickle sports city and clearly that’s nonsense.”

A city that is often an afterthought when it comes to sports is emerging as one of the country’s biggest soccer cities and Atlanta United’s President, Darren Eales, can take plenty of credit for that growth. Eales, an English import, spoke glowingly about the city and the team in comparison to Europe, something that should make fans smile from ear to ear.

Listen to the podcast here and fall in love with everything Eales says: