In February, as part of plans announced for a 200-acre sports complex to be built in DeKalb County, a group called First Team SC teased a “big announcement” scheduled to be revealed in 40 days according to a countdown clock on their atl2018.com website. A current look at that website now shows that countdown is gone with the date it was ticking down towards approaching.
CEO of First Team SC Trey Brantley revealed to Chris Kivlehan of Midfield Press that they’ve decided to postpone their announcement due to “the landscape of American soccer changing dramatically.”
Statement from @atlanta_2018 on postponing their announcement. As some have notice the countdown clock is off their site. #NASL pic.twitter.com/Vs85EKhDJp
— Chris Kivlehan (@kivlehan) April 9, 2017
You have to assume this has something to do with the NASL’s rocky future. It was highly assumed that First Team SC was going to announce two pro soccer teams to insert into the Atlanta soccer picture. One would likely be an NASL team and the other an NWSL team. However, this past winter the NASL went through a phase of vast uncertainty with U.S. Soccer deciding whether or not they’d be considered a second-division league in American soccer. Eventually it was decided that the USL and NASL would both be deemed second-division leagues and everything went on. But, there’s no guarantee that the league will be able to sustain for the future.
The phrasing of Brantley’s statement is very interesting. We can now only wait and see what the next step for First Team SC is.