Football
ESPN staff 7y

MLS expansion: Atlanta faces $1M to rent, Cincinnati to host Don Garber

Atlanta United will pay Georgia Tech over $1 million to play in Bobby Dodd Stadium next season.

The new Major League Soccer club needs a temporary home to start its season until Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which they will share with the NFL's Falcons, opens in June.

As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the expansion team will pay the university's athletic association $45,000 in rent per game.

There are also fees of $275,000 for locker room accommodations and $350,000 to alter the field.

Georgia Tech will also claim $2 for every ticket, including on the 22,000 season tickets already sold, and split revenue from concession stands.

In other MLS expansion news, Cincinnati announced plans for a town-hall event with commissioner Don Garber visit on Nov. 29.

A similar visit from Garber to Sacramento in April put the California capital on the fast track to an expansion team, and the commissioner said at the time that Cincinnati was seventh on his list of expansion cities, with only four spots likely available.

But that was before FC Cincinnati put up impressive attendance numbers in its first season in the USL, setting league records and averaging 17,296 per game at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium.

On his visit, Garber will also tour the city with the mayor and meet with university officials.

"We are excited to have MLS Commissioner Don Garber visit Cincinnati," FCC president Jeff Berding told the Cincinnati Business Courier. "We thank the Woodward Theater for partnering with us to host the town hall. The people at Woodward have taken great care to preserve the historic theater and it will be a great venue to show the commissioner the revitalization that is occurring in our city."

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