Cheer up, Atlanta. Better days lie ahead.

The sun will come out in the city of Atlanta tomorrow morning. Contrary to what you may be feeling after seeing the city’s best chance of winning a championship in 21 years go down in flames in truly heartbreaking fashion, there is hope ahead for sports in Atlanta.

In just 27 days (as of Monday), Atlanta United will begin their inaugural MLS season against the New York Red Bulls at Bobby Dodd Stadium. That should be enough time for you to wipe this awful feeling from your mind and get appropriately excited for possibly the best sports franchise to represent this city. Yes, that’s a bold statement with them not having played a single match yet, but it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

The whole club from Arthur Blank and Darren Eales all they way down to the small people behind the scenes we don’t know about have been hard at work to put a very exciting team on the field from day one. The roster is shaping up better than anyone could have ever imagined and it’s looking likely that they’ll be competitive in their first season. In fact, some are even claiming they are the most exciting team in MLS already. While we’re not going to go that far out on a limb, we will say that they can certainly be a playoff team in their very first year, which would be incredible in this day and age in MLS.

The Falcons coming so close to winning the Super Bowl hurts now, but in less than a month Atlanta United will take the city by storm with their young and dynamic talent and sold out (hopefully) crowds and raise the bar for sports in the city. There’s no doubt in my mind that Atlanta will fall in love with United from the first time they play. It hurts now, but we’re oh so close to mending those wounds with an exceptional soccer team on the way. Cheer up, Atlanta. Better days lie ahead.