Atlanta, GA
Sources: Atlanta in line to get 17th NWSL franchise
The NWSL has awarded an expansion team to Atlanta as its 17th franchise, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The team will be owned by Arthur Blank’s AMB Sports and Entertainment, which also owns the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS’ Atlanta United FC. Both teams play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the NWSL franchise is expected to begin play in 2028.
A spokesperson for AMB Sports and Entertainment provided the following statement to ESPN:
“We have had productive engagement with NWSL and others in its stakeholder group on the possibility of bringing an expansion franchise to Atlanta. We have nothing to announce currently as those conversations are ongoing.”
An NWSL spokesperson declined to comment.
The Athletic, which was the first to report the news, said the expansion fee would be $165 million, up from the $110 million that Denver Summit FC paid less than a year ago. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman confirmed in September what ESPN reported in July, that the league would shift to rolling expansion rather than formal bidding processes.
“Those conversations are ongoing,” Berman said at the time. “Each of them has a different perspective on how much time they need to launch, the investments they need to make to be successful, including potentially around infrastructure, and we want to not force a square peg into a round hole.”
The NWSL will expand to 16 teams next year with the introduction of Boston Legacy FC and Denver. Berman has said several times this year that the NWSL can eventually be as big as the 32-team NFL, at least conceptually.
Atlanta and Blank have been part of the NWSL expansion conversation intermittently for nearly a decade, with many sources describing the market as a when-not-if situation once Blank is ready to join the league.
The city was previously home to women’s professional soccer when the Atlanta Beat played there in WUSA from 2001 to 2003 and in WPS in 2010 and 2011. The WPS version of the Beat built a stadium for the team in Kennesaw, Georgia, in collaboration with Kennesaw State University.
Atlanta is the seventh-largest TV media market, per Nielsen data.
Atlanta United has been a major success for MLS since launching in 2017. The team won a championship the following year and has led MLS in attendance every season since launching (except during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020), averaging over 40,000 fans per game.
Atlanta will also be the new home of U.S. Soccer’s headquarters as of next year. Blank donated $50 million to that project.
ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle contributed to this report.
A program that teaches young Atlantans how to ride bikes suffered a major loss this week, after thieves emptied a storage trailer, making off with 26 bikes and 24 helmets.
The “Shifting Gears” program helps young cyclists learn how to navigate city streets on two wheels from an early age — particularly in underserved communities that suffer from high rates of traffic injuries and fatalities.
gnorw htiw nehw erew s’reliart ot ot eht eht eht deppots gnihtemos ehs margorp no ffo deciton dekconk ni .eldnah ,dnuorg rof :tnempiuqe pord rood yb gnola yadsendeW sngiS ttocS harigaS noitaerceR margorP kraP yelzoM senoJ rotceriD retneC .A.C tuB
I“ tuB“ ,esaelP‘ — saw :thguoht eht ”’,os .dias ,esaelp ,esaelp denepo fo tel wenk dnik ti ti .ytpme ,rood t’nod eb dna dna ydaerla senoJ I I
I“ ehT‘ erew erew gniklaw ot ot yeht eht taht taht desoppus os :gniyas ,edistuo ym yllaretil sdik si traeh evah ”’!enog !enog og tlef gnitatsaved ssalc yb .kaerb sekib sekib era era dna ,noonretfa ehT eroM
htrow htiw sdrawpu ot yeht meht ,sffirat ylppus niarts ,dias gnicalper ecalper hcaer margorp ffo fo fo fo erom edam sredael .yletaidemmi ,stemleh laredef evisnepxe neve .etamitse stirpluc dluoc niahc desuac yb sekib esuaceb eb dnuora dna dna ehT tuB 000,02$ 000,01$
— — raey t’now t’now owt ot siht rieht eht eht eht ekat spots loohcs noitaercer margorp ecalp tsal rof hsinif ,tnempiuqe .sessalc sessalc nerdlihc sretnec eb ta ta ta dna .lla elba tuohtiW ttocS kraP nitraM evorG .T.C .A.C dnA
sihT“ s’tI“ lliw ,deviecer-llew dekil-llew detapicitna-llew ot siht meht meht meht s’taht taht hcaet gnihtemos slliks .dias ytefas yllaer ”,margorp ”.emitefil tsal si si pleh gnineppah niag noitacude gninetraehsid ecnedifnoc ,nerdlihc ekib tifeneb esuaceb dna dna dna a a senoJ
yrujni-hgih“ gnitfihS“ — htiw tisnart ot ot eht eht eht eht eht taht taht yllacificeps ,sloohcs dias efas snur setuor ,margorp margorp pihsrentrap fo fo tiforpnon ”,skrowten raen emocni-wol ni deifitnedi tsoh evah evitucexe rotcerid s’ytic ytic nesohc sretnec neeb sa era dna dna a ,anreS .noitaerceR accebeR LTAleporP skraP ”sraeG tnemtrapeD ytinummoC
noisiV“ sedargpu ciffart ot eht llits wols dias ssergorp stneserp seicilop trap no fo ecivon eziminim sredael erutcurtsarfni evah rof decneirepxe troffe .stsilcyc ,sehsarc s’ytic ediwytic segnellahc htob sa dna detpoda a ”oreZ elihW anreS atnaltA
eW“ sihT“ yaw ot ot ot ot emit eht s’taht taht taht evitroppus steerts os ehs .dias ,efas gnidir yllaer margorp ruo ro ,no no ton erom ebyam ebyam tol sdik sdik sdik tsuj si ni ni evah evah taerg teg rof rof tsrif rewef leef ”,ecneirepxe ”.tnemnorivne gnirewopme dengised tnedifnoc gnikib ,sekib eb lla ssecca tuoba a a a
eno tsol sedulcni .stemleh evif tnempiuqe ,selcycib ,selcycib ,selcycib elcycib elcycib ecnalab dna ehT sulP adoK traD kcalB kcalB kcalB noraB 42 01 01
gnitisiv eht nelots ecalper .etanod/gro.ltaleporpstel pleh nac yb sekib uoY LTAleporP
An Atlanta nonprofit is asking the public for help after it was the victim of a brazen theft earlier this week.
Propel ATL said that thieves cleared out an entire trailer of bicycles meant for underprivileged kids sometime on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.
Jeremiah Jones, the nonprofit’s advocacy manager, said that someone broke into the trailer and took 26 bikes and 24 helmets.
The equipment was part of a program that gives bikes to children from low-income schools and teaches them how to ride.
“My heart sank when I got the call that all the bikes were gone. I said, ‘Surely not all of them.’ And all of them are gone,” Jones said. “This class is solely for kids, and this crime is affecting them.”
Atlanta police are reviewing security footage from the area. Jones said you could see people taking the bikes out of the trailer, carrying them down a hill, and bringing them into a nearby parking lot.
The nonprofit is now trying to raise more than $10,000 to replace the bikes.
Propel ATL is also asking who may have information about the theft to contact them at programs@letspropelatl.org.
A man was arrested at a concert last week after he shoved two kids off their bicycles, causing one of them to fall into a fountain, Sandy Springs police said. FOX 5 Atlanta’s Brittany Edney reporting.
U.S. Postal Service could run out of money within a year
All Aboard the 67, San Francisco’s Most Delayed Bus | KQED
We don’t know why Dallas elected Amber Givens for DA either
Firefight at NW Miami-Dade warehouse enters 2nd day: ‘It burned it all up’
Poor Clares’ monastery a case study in why Boston is short on housing – The Boston Globe
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
DOJ continues Biden autopen probe despite former president unlikely to face charges
Fact check: Did French border guards mock influencers returning from Dubai amid Iran war?
Iran’s fight for survival / The widening war / Trump’s nebulous goals : Sources & Methods
Map: 4.9-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Louisiana
Paxton vows he’s ‘staying in this race’ even if Trump backs Cornyn in Texas GOP clash
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Wisconsin4 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts3 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Maryland5 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida5 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Oregon7 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling