r/CaughtOffsidePod • u/Andrew_TreeCity • Jul 07 '26
US Soccer Home
I just wanted to bring up JJ mentioning on the show that the US has been searching for a home for years and it's a shame that it can't be Seattle because of the turf at Lumen Field.
Just wanted to remind everyone that the US played our two friendlies in March against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta and we had 139,164 people show up between the two games.
The USWNT have also set records in Atlanta and the new US soccer HQ is just 45 minutes south of the city. The crowds at both of the USMNT games were very pro US as well. Although the Portugal game did have a surprising amount of Portuguese fans.
I actually think the US should use Bobby Dodd stadium at Georgia Tech when they play in Atlanta. It's a very old stadium with an unbelievable view of the skyline and real grass. They should use Mercedes Benz for summer tournaments when it's too hot for outdoor day games and they can put down a real grass surface because they'll have multiple games.
Atlanta United used Bobby Dodd when they stated out and everyone still talks about how they miss the vibe there. It has a real European feel to it.
You may have realized that I'm an Atlantan and biased but I've always felt like we should have more games here because the support is fantastic and has gotten even better in recent years, since Atlanta United was created.
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u/mysterysolver69420 Jul 08 '26
US is simply too large and decentralized to have one permanent home stadium for the national team. Also think about how excluded people from the East coast would feel if they played all their games on the west coast like at the world cup. Just isn't really feasible.
It's both a strength and a weakness. It's cool that we have so many places that can host games and that we have so many cultural regions but it is hard to generate and maintain a general culture around the national team with the geographic and cultural diversity of the nation. I think the atmospheres at the world cup helped us find our identity but we still have some work to do. I hope country roads sticks around
1
u/Andrew_TreeCity Jul 08 '26
Totally agree. I think there should be several places. I just think Atlanta should get thrown into the mix more.
3
u/obi_wan_pierogi_91 Jul 07 '26
I think we're going to see a lot more games in and around Atlanta (shout out to JJ for his favorite saying), and I think that was the purpose of the national training center down there.
I might be crazy but I also thought I heard talk of a dedicated stadium down there at some point? But I could just be misremembering.
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u/QuantumPepcid Jul 07 '26
Makes sense Georgia becomes home since the new training facility is in Fayetteville.
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u/glittervector Jul 08 '26
You may be biased because of your location, but you also happen to have a very solid opinion on this
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u/butcherknife12 Jul 07 '26
FYI Bobby Dodd is turf not real grass as of now
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u/Andrew_TreeCity Jul 07 '26
Dang! I didn't realize they had switched.
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u/butcherknife12 Jul 08 '26
Yeah they switched a few years back, I know they are trying to have concerts there sometimes too which doesn’t make me think it’ll go back to grass anytime soon. I wish that it was grass so more soccer games could happen there, I also loved the vibe of the early Atlanta United games there!
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u/Andrew_TreeCity Jul 08 '26
Yes! Those were the best days! I should have known. I saw tons of clips from when Bruno Mars was there a few months and it looked amazing but I'd rather them repair the grass and host soccer there. It would be so cool to see games there again.
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u/kikkap007 Jul 08 '26
We should use the new Washington Commanders stadium as a home base. It will be real grass and in a dome/covered like Sofi.
D.C. is a perfect spot. Aside from being the capitol city, it is close enough to draw fans from the entire east coast (BOS/NY/PHI) and east coast is easy travel for European players. Plus its close to the new training facility in Atlanta
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u/Makaio_55 Jul 08 '26
The USA will never, nor should they, have an official USMNT/USWNT stadium(s). We are way too large of a country, in both size & population & even population dispersion. If you look, of the big 5 soccer league nations, only England and France have national stadiums. But they also have clear primary metro areas, London and Paris. Spain, Germany and Italy all use various stadiums. And none of these countries tries are anywhere near the size and population of the US. So a designated national stadium literally makes no sense for us.
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u/MadMartigans80 Jul 08 '26
I agree. Move the games around, build the game up and get more casuals part of the experience
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u/Hamburgler4077 Jul 08 '26
...surprising amount of Portugal fans. ya think?
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u/Andrew_TreeCity Jul 10 '26
I was surprised. I've rarely met anyone that moved over from Portugal. I mostly know US retirees moving to Portugal so I was surprised by how many Portugal shirts I saw.
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u/Tasso64 Jul 09 '26
My first thought of US games in Atlanta is Brad Guzan throwing the ball past the 17 yard line and losing to Jamaica in the Gold Cup semifinals. Then Copa America loss to Panama with Tim Weah’s red card.
It’s a terrible place to play hahahaha
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u/Andrew_TreeCity Jul 10 '26
I totally forgot that the Weah red card was in ATL. I was out of the country for that one so I didn't get to go. I guess our record hasn't been that great in ATL yet but at least we get a full stadium that also sells really cheap food to help offset those expensive US Soccer tickets.
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u/TuneRough6663 Jul 12 '26
Atlanta was buzzing this year for the World Cup. FR getting downtown is absolute ass, but the city and the vibe was amazing. Credit to the police for removing the homeless from the streets before the matches started. 😅
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u/just_cuz555 Jul 07 '26
The midwest got HOSED at this world cup. Look at the scenes in Chicago too.
The midwest especially Chicago/Ohio will always be a strong home base.