World Cup in Atlanta: Dan Corso on the ‘user-friendly footprint’ that awaits fans from around the globe

In July of 1968, the Atlanta Braves’ Hank Aaron hit his 500th career home run in front of 34,283 in the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Six weeks later, Pele scored a hat trick in the same stadium in Santos’ 6-2 win over the Atlanta Chiefs.

The crowd of 26,173 who witnessed Pele’s feat in 1968 was still Atlanta’s soccer game attendance record when Atlanta bid unsuccessfully to host 1994 World Cup games.

Atlanta will host eight World Cup 2026 games at its Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in which Atlanta United has averaged an MLS-leading 48,000 per game (excluding the 2021 season impacted by Covid) since joining the league in 2017.

Since staging the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Georgia capital has hosted two Super Bowls, four NCAA men’s basketball final fours, three Major League Baseball All-Star Games and Copa America 2024 games. 

This summer, it will host six FIFA Club World Cup 2025 games and the MLB All-Star Game. Another Super Bowl comes in 2028.

Dan Corso is the president of the Atlanta Sports Council and the Atlanta World Cup 26 Host Committee. We spoke with Corso about Atlanta’s preparations and what the fans can expect in the summer of 2026.

SOCCER AMERICA: The 2026 World Cup is one year away. Is the preparation on schedule?

DAN CORSO: It is here in Atlanta. We feel really good. We’re used to hosting large-scale sporting events in Atlanta. We’ve got the right organizations working together and a great footprint. We’re tracking very well.

SA: A challenge for several venues is ensuring convenient transportation to the stadiums, which won’t have their usual availability for parking because of the security parameters FIFA requires. Also, foreign visitors are likely accustomed to public transportation. What will it be like in Atlanta?

DAN CORSO: Atlanta is very fortunate. I think part of our success in recruiting these big sporting events is what we like to call our user-friendly footprint. 

So you’ve got Mercedes-Benz Stadium that sits right next to the MARTA train station. That [GWCC/CNN Center] MARTA station is between the stadium and State Farm Arena and our convention center. That line runs directly from the airport. 

So you’ve got over 80% of the U.S. population that can get to Atlanta on a two-hour direct flight. And then you extend that out globally with our airport, to countries all over the world. 

Those travelers, when they land at the airport, have the option to jump on that MARTA rail and take it right downtown, right next to the stadium.  And you can get out and walk to one of 14,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of the stadium.

It’s an incredible footprint.

SA: Atlanta gets a lot of international visitors in general …

DAN CORSO: Without a doubt. We’ve got global brands here: Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS, Delta Airlines and others that have employees and offices around the world, and brands that are known around the world. 

We’ve got that connectivity through the corporate sector because of the companies that call Atlanta home. We also have a high number of Consulate Generals and their council corps here in Atlanta, and trade offices. That certainly will help in our World Cup planning. Once the countries are identified in December’s draw, we’ll be able to engage them.

Editor’s note: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is the world’s busiest airport annually based on both total passengers (108 million) and flight offerings.

SA: What’s your personal soccer history?

DAN CORSO: Most of my youth was spent up in the Midwest, in Indiana. I grew up in Indiana and moved to Florida halfway through high school, and then stayed in the South since then.

As you can imagine, Indiana is basketball country. But I did play some youth soccer. Then my son and daughter both played youth soccer here in Metro Atlanta. It’s been fun to watch them participate in that sport at a young age, much like it is for anybody who gets involved in soccer at a young age. It’s a great game.

If you’ve been to Atlanta United games or any of the international friendlies held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you know that there’s just an energy that’s created because of the configuration. Whether the roof is open or closed, it’s just a great setup. The sidelines are fantastic.

SA: Is there infrastructure work being done ahead of the World Cup that will benefit Atlanta residents long-term?

DAN CORSO: The city has been active in downtown and repaving streets, general cleanup and pressure washing — getting things ready to go to welcome the world.

But we also have some developments that are being built — mixed-use developments, sports and entertainment developments right next to Mercedes-Benz Stadium called Centennial Yards.

I would encourage you to take a look at that development. Just go Google that and find that property — it’s going to have a hotel and apartments and business offices, restaurants, bars. They’ve recently announced a deal with Live Nation. They also have Cosm coming in.

SA: I imagine all venues are eagerly waiting to learn whether $625 million in federal funding will be approved for security in World Cup host cities …

DAN CORSO:  We are and it is important because it’s money that will be utilized for public safety and security across the 11 host cities. We’re very encouraged and optimistic that it will happen, and appreciate the support that the federal government is providing.

Cities in this country are used to doing big events, and part of that is keeping residents and visitors safe.

SA: FIFA controlling the main revenue streams requires significant fund-raising by host venues. How is Atlanta pulling that off?

DAN CORSO: The normal model — public-private. We’re lucky here in the state of Georgia that our state government, the Governor, provided $25 million to our hosting of the World Cup to go towards public safety and infrastructure. So we’re in the process now of matching that in the corporate community. …

… For the World Cup, and really for most of our large sporting events, we do what we can to make sure that the entire 29-county Metro Atlanta area is engaged. In the case of the FIFA World Cup next summer, we want this to be a statewide hosting. While the matches will be held in Mercedes Benz Stadium in Downtown Atlanta, we want to make sure that communities around the state are part of the celebration of this once-in-a-lifetime event — through watch parties or fan zones, or whatever they may create.

SA: Atlanta has a history of expanding soccer-playing opportunities, such as the fields by MARTA stations. Will World Cup-hosting contribute to that?

DAN CORSO: What you’re referring to is called Station Soccer, those are mini-pitches next to our MARTA stations,

Our host committee is working with the organizing body for Station Soccer — Soccer in the Streets. And their purpose is to grow the game of soccer and provide opportunities for youth in the city of Atlanta to play the game of soccer where they may not normally have an opportunity to play it. 

So building these pitches next to the MARTA stations is a really cool and unique way of doing it. I think it’s starting to get some national attention as well, which is a point of pride for us here in Atlanta, and certainly as a whole committee. We’re working with Soccer in the Streets to help promote that and grow that. Either enhance existing pitches or perhaps create new pitches at different MARTA stations that don’t have one now.

SA: Can you update us on base camps?

DAN CORSO: So far we have two confirmed — Atlanta United’s training ground and the other in Kennesaw State University, their football stadium. They’re actually close to each other in Cobb County, which is on the northern end of the city.

SA:  The two matchday-minus-1 training sites?

DAN CORSO: We’re working with FIFA on options for team training sites — “venue-specific training sites.” Also, the two team base camps, once we get through the group stage, could become the VSTS’s.

SA: What might visitors who don’t know Atlanta be interested in doing between games? There’s the birth home of Martin Luther King, Jr. …

DAN CORSO: We also have the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, right next to World of Coca‑Cola and the Georgia Aquarium — one of the best aquariums in the world — all near Centennial Olympic Park. It’s part of “the campus.”

We’ve got two MARTA stations right in the middle of it, and it’s all within walking distance to the Fan Festival and the Stadium. 

• More Reading: Atlanta Soccer Guide | SA on Atlanta soccer

World Cup 2026 in … 
• Dallas: Monica Paul on prepping the 2026 summer’s soccer epicenter
• Houston: Chris Canetti on the city’s big-event culture, key attractions and legacy pillars
• Philadelphia: Host City Executive Meg Kane on adding a new chapter to Pennsylvania’s rich soccer history
• Kansas City: KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer on preparing Kansas City for soccer’s greatest event

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