World Cup in Atlanta: How the City Can Capitalize on ‘Our Generation’s Olympics’ 

Thirty years ago, the audacious bid and unlikely victory in wooing the 1996 Olympic Games gave Atlanta the chance to tell the story of its emergence on the global stage.  

With the FIFA World Cup coming this summer, the narrative has shifted just a bit, says Metro Atlanta Chamber President and CEO Katie Kirkpatrick. 

“Now what we’re doing is elevating ourselves, and not only saying we’re on the world stage, but we are the top, and we are a great place for not only business, but also culture and community,” Ms. Kirkpatrick told a World Affairs Council of Atlanta audience in late January. 

A born-and-raised Atlantan, Ms. Kirkpatrick recalled the exuberance the city’s selection for the centennial games unleashed. 

“That was incredible. And for someone that grew up in Atlanta and remembers, ’It’s Atlanta’ and then everyone leaving school and going to a parade — my parents wouldn’t let me leave — that really was a mark of the next step in our evolution of an international city,” she said. 

Such boosterism might be expected from leading voice for growth, but Ms. Kirkpatrick was also realistic about the challenges Atlanta faces ahead of hosting eight matches in the world’s largest sporting event, from homelessness to transit infrastructure and a downtown in need of a facelift (now undergoing $120 million of improvements in paving, wayfinding and more).  

Still, the city is way ahead of where it was three decades ago, she said during a conversation at the Woodruff Arts Center about ensuring lasting economic benefit for the city. 

The Olympics required massive investment in stadiums and athlete housing, to say nothing of the redevelopment of a brownfield site into Centennial Olympic Park. 

With the World Cup, which council President Rickey Bevington called “our generation’s Olympics,” Atlanta has had a head start.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will host the matches downtown, was built with the World Cup in mind (though it was 4,000 seats shy of the 80,000 required to host a final, Ms. Kirkpatrick said.) The home of Atlanta United and the Atlanta Falcons opened in 2017, with the bid for the cup starting the following year, Ms. Kirkpatrick said. Crucially, it’s connected directly to the airport via transit, a luxury that few host cities will have, she added. 

Before the tournament begins, U.S. Soccer will open its new training center at its headquarters in Fayetteville, fueled by a $50 million donation from United/Falcons owner Arthur Blank —yet more evidence Atlanta is the “epicenter” of the sport in the U.S., Ms. Kirkpatrick asserted.  

Post-Olympic International Growth

The city has also seen an explosion in its global connectivity, both at the world’s busiest airport and in its international relationships, from consulates to companies landing here to serve an increasingly diverse population. 

“It’s been double-digit growth every year for 30 years for the international community, so I think that speaks volumes to what the ’96 Olympics did for us,” Ms. Kirkpatrick said. “Roughly 40 percent of the job creation and investment in the state of Georgia comes from foreign direct investment. People don’t know it’s that high.” 

In some years, with mega-project like the Hyundai Metaplant arriving, the percentage has been higher, especially when factoring in expansions of existing foreign subsidiaries. 

Now is the time to cash in on that global cachet, Ms. Kirkpatrick said, taking advantage of exposure both from soccer teams basing themselves here and the broadcast coverage to an estimated 5.2 billion global viewers during the expanded World Cup, the first to include 48 national teams.

Ensuring Inclusion

And Atlanta must do this without forgetting its values — or its most vulnerable, Ms. Kirkpatrick acknowledged as audience members pushed in the question-and-answer session for insight on how the city is handling homelessness. They also wondered how the city is including small businesses in the estimated $500 million to $1 billion projected impact from 300,000-800,000 visitors, depending on estimates. 

Ms. Kirkpatrick outlined efforts to ensure that the city’s unhoused population is taken care of, including Mayor Andre Dickens’ (yet unreached) plan to build 500 new units the $50 million the state government has allocated to tackle homelessness across Georgia. 

“It’s going to be a challenge for all cities, but what we need to do is leave with empathy, and make sure that those we call our neighbors on the street have an opportunity to access resources.” 

She added, as heavy-handed Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids rocked Minneapolis, that Atlanta should be clear about the value it places on its immigrant communities, calling for “calm” and a “pause to get back to having constructive dialogue” as concerns rose that World Cup matches would be targeted for enforcement operations. 

(ICE has since pulled back from its Minnesota surge, which led to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two American citizens caught up in anti-ICE protests — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also been fired from her role). 

“Make no bones about it that loss of life should never be something that we accept,” Ms. Kirkpatrick said at the time.  

She also pointed to resources for small business including Showcase Atlanta, a city-run project that is creating a local vendor and business directory that FIFA and others can access during the run-up to the matches, whether they’re in need of balloon art, toilet paper, event venues or Coca-Cola products, Ms. Kirkpatrick said. 

Woodruff Arts Center’s World Cup Plans

In her introductory remarks, Woodruff Arts Center CEO Hala Moddelmog pitched her complex, which includes the Alliance Theater, the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, as a possible gathering place, with five air-conditioned stages that can be rented out for watch parties and gatherings. 

“We’re putting in to the (FIFA) portal to try to get license to show matches, and we’re not necessarily showing the Atlanta matches. We might, but what we’re showing are the matches that we know everybody in the world wants to see.”

The center is working closely with locally posted diplomats to ensure it’s in front-and-center with inbound visitors.

“We’re best friends with the consular corps right now. We’re trying to meet with all of them,” Ms. Moddelmog said. 

During the tournament, the Alliance Theater will be hosting a Broadway-enhanced show, Basura (trash), about a group of kids in Paraguay who made musical instruments out of discarded waste and went on to tour the world. 

It’s one more way that the arts contributes to the city’s economic landscape, Ms. Moddelmog, who formerly held Ms. Kirkpatrick’s role leading the chamber. The arts in Georgia have a $31 billion economic impact, accounting for about 160,000 jobs and $200 million in direct tax revenue, she said. 

Bank of America sponsored the event as part of its underwriting of a broader set of World Cup-related programs undertaken by the World Affairs Council.  

“We like to help local businesses and leaders to think strategically how to capitalize on this moment for sustainable growth. And not just the short term  spikes, but long-term benefits of the economy,” said Atlanta President Al McRae in opening remarks. “We cannot wait to cheer together, to host the world together, and hopefully celebrate a few big match victories together.”