The NWSL is expanding again. The league has awarded its 17th franchise to Atlanta, where the team will play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the current home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC. The new team will be owned by Arthur Blank’s AMB Sports and Entertainment, which also owns the two current teams as well as the stadium.
The news comes on the heels of two new expansion franchises launching in 2026: the Denver Summit and Boston Legacy. Continued league expansion is expected, and, for the sake of balanced scheduling, we wouldn’t be surprised to see an additional expansion team announced in the near future.
The as-yet-unnamed team will debut for the 2028 season, and the capacity at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for NWSL games is expected to be approximately 28,000. Atlanta United FC also plays at a reduced capacity, seating 42,000 people on the first and second levels of the stadium. But the benefit of holding MLS and NWSL matches at an NFL stadium is that there is the ability to expand capacity for higher demand games. For United FC, the third deck of the stadium was opened for two regular-season matches in 2025, both of which had over 60,000 attendees.
The women’s team will likely sell tickets for just the lower level of the stadium, with the 200 level being available for higher-demand games.
Does putting a soccer team in an NFL venue work?
Well, for the MLS, the answer has been yes. Of MLS’s 30 teams, five currently play in NFL stadiums. And how has that gone? All five rank in the top 10 in MLS attendance, with Atlanta, Seattle, and Charlotte placing in the top three spots. Even the Chicago Fire, who have struggled most of the past decade on the pitch, ranked eighth in league attendance at Soldier Field, pulling in over 24,000 fans per game.
For the NWSL, none of the current teams have used an NFL stadium as their permanent home. And with an average league attendance of just under 11,000 fans per game, an NFL stadium may feel quite empty. But if that number can get to the higher range of the spectrum, like the Portland Thorns’ 18,000 fans per game, then it would seem more reasonable for the team to be able to play in the lower level of an NFL stadium. And if Atlanta’s women’s team can mirror the success of Atlanta United, then it may work out perfectly.
How will an NWSL team do in Atlanta?
Well, it depends on which aspect you prefer to look at.
In terms of soccer popularity, if recent history is any indication, the team should do just fine. Since joining MLS in 2017, Atlanta United FC has led the league in attendance in eight of its nine years. And not by a little, either. In 2025, Atlanta’s average attendance of 41,435 fans per game was over 10,000 more than the Seattle Sounders, who ranked second at 31,000. It’s even more fans per game than the cross-town Atlanta Braves, who regularly rank in the top levels of MLB attendance. So the interest in soccer has been quite strong in Atlanta.
On the other hand, if looking at this through the guise of women’s professional sports, the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream haven’t fared as well at the gate. The team’s average attendance of 4,500 fans ranks last amongst the league’s 13 teams. The average attendance for the WNBA is just over 11,148 per game (and even higher if you factor out the Dream’s attendance from that calculation).
But part of that may be attributable to the Dream’s stadium situation and schedule. The Gateway Center, where the team plays its home games, is located to the south of downtown Atlanta, pushing it further away from the north side of the metro’s perimeter. And with the overwhelming majority of games being played on weeknights, it’s possible that many fans choose to avoid battling the notorious Atlanta rush hour to attend games.
With the majority of NWSL matches typically scheduled on weekends, plus the more central location of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the new NWSL club probably has a better shot of attendance success than the Dream currently does. But time will tell.
Next steps
The team has already announced a season ticket deposit program that is now open. There’s a $50 fee to join the waitlist for season tickets, and although this fee is non-refundable, it will be credited towards your future season tickets if you choose to purchase them. To sign up, click here.
It’s not known if current Atlanta United FC and/or Atlanta Falcons season ticket holders will get priority access to purchase season tickets, which Falcons PSL holders were given when FC was announced as an expansion franchise in 2014. But we’ll keep you posted on that.
Regardless, given the size of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it’s reasonable to believe that there will be enough supply to go around, even without early access.
