Sports Teams of Atlanta
The sports scene in Atlanta is a rich and entertaining one. With many teams stationed in the city representing multiple sports, bringing Atlanta pride, I am sure that you will find something to enjoy here in this fine settlement that is sports related and in your tastes.
First off, the most popular sport in the United States, football! No not the kicking type, but the tackling type. There a team stationed here called the Atlanta Falcons, which represent the City in a Forest in the National Football League (NFL for short), and they have been in the NFL since 1965. The half-century old team’s current home field is the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and is always a hot ticket in town whenever they have a game here. The city is scheduled to host Super Bowl LIII
Speaking about the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons share the field with another team, the Atlanta United FC, which represent the city in Major League Soccer (abbreviated, that’s MLS), from attendance, Atlanta United FC is the best supported club in MLS.
Then for baseball in Atlanta, you’ve got the Atlanta Braves, formerly the Boston Braves, stationed in SunTrust Park, which has a max capacity of barely over 40,000 people. The team has been the MLB franchise of Atlanta since 1966. They won the World Series in 1995 and had an amazing run of 14 straight divisional championships from 1991 to 2005.
Basketball you say? Not another word, Atlanta’s got you covered. You see, there’s a sports team here called the Atlanta Hawks. Though they currently own the second-longest drought of not winning an NBA championship at 60 seasons, the city is steadfast in supporting the team, and never wavers. They call the State Farm Arena as their home.
They also have a team in box lacrosse called the Georgia Swarm, which holds its games in the Infinite Energy Arena, in Duluth, Georgia, within Metropolitan Atlanta. The team is pretty recent, only being founded in the year 2004, only fourteen years ago.
On field lacrosse, the city of Atlanta is represented by the Atlanta Blaze, which hold their games at the Fifth Third Bank Stadium near Kennesaw, Georgia, in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, and the team is pretty recent, only being founded about two years ago, in 2016.
The city used to have its own hockey team, the Atlanta Flames of the National Hockey League (or NHL for short). However, in 1980, the team would depart for Calgary, Alberta, becoming the Calgary Flames. In 1999, the NHL returned to Atlanta in the form of the Atlanta Thrashers. The team played in Philips Arena. But, in 2011, the team moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba and became the current Winnipeg Jets (though this team was sold and would cease games), again leaving Atlanta without an NHL franchise.
Ever since the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, their former ECHL affiliate in Duluth, Georgia, the Atlanta Gladiators, has served as the area’s only professional hockey team. The Gladiators moved to Gwinnett County in 2003 after seven seasons as the team Mobile Mysticks, and has won three division championships, and a conference championship since 2006.