Sportin' Down South - Playing It Up In Hotlanta

Before we even get started, let’s be honest about something: Atlanta hasn’t always had the best reputation as a winning sports town. While the braves, falcons, hawks, and yellow jackets have had some level of success over the last 20 years or so, these teams were, for years, mediocre at best.

- Loyd Mcintosh

ATLANTA

ADDITIONALLY, the city’s pro sports teams from MLB, NFL, and NBA franchises have only called Atlanta home since the late 60s. Combine that with 37 percent of the city’s residents being born outside of Georgia, and the result is a fan base that, historically, has been a little apathetic about its sports teams.

But that is beginning to change. And it’s worth a visit.

For one thing, the women came to town in 2008. Since its inception, the Atlanta Dream WNBA team has qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in seven of its nine years and grappled to win a berth in the Finals three times.

For another, Atlanta hosts big sporting events, such as college football’s SEC Championships and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. In tennis, the city has hosted the BB&T Atlanta Open for the last eight years. It’s the inaugural event in the seven-tournament series leading up to the US Open. And this year, the PGA Tour Championship will be held at the historic East Lake Golf Course in September.

All this has led to the Atlanta Business Journal, utilizing supporting data from the financial website Wallet hub, to rank Atlanta as the nation’s ninth-best sports city.

As for the city’s pro franchises, their fan bases are galvanizing, thanks to a thing called winning.