Roswell and the United Soccer League plan to build a stadium for professional women’s and men’s soccer teams.
The stadium would seat between 10,000 and 15,000 and anchor a mixed-used sports and entertainment development, Mayor Kurt Wilson said.
By comparison, Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta seats 12,000.
City Council approved a letter of intent between Roswell and the USL during a Monday meeting.
A location and cost of the project which would be a public/private partnership has not yet been determined, according to city officials. Roswell is considering use of taxpayer monies for the project. Predevelopment costs would include site surveys, feasibility studies, financial projections, consultant fees as well as architect and engineering fees, the agreement states.
According to the letter of intent, Roswell and the soccer league are in exclusive negotiations that run at least through Dec. 31 and could be extended to the end of 2025.
The new stadium would be home to a Division One USL Super League and a championship professional men’s team, a United Soccer League statement said.
Residential, retail shops, restaurants, a hotel and transit options are being considered for the development.
“… It will be a transformational project for our community, for all of north Fulton and really for the state of Georgia, and an economic driver for our city,” Wilson said.
The United Soccer League approached Roswell about the possible project months ago. City consultants Peter Sorckoff of Seer World and Steve Stroud of Roswell Inc., and others on a leadership team moved the talks forward, the mayor said.
USL Deputy CEO Justin Papadakis grew up in Roswell.
“Having grown up there, right in Horseshoe Bend, I can unequivocally attest that the city of Roswell has all the ingredients to become home to the preeminent USL Club, multi-purpose stadium, and entertainment district — all driven by its world-class professional women’s team,” Papadakis said in a statement.
Soccer has become a hugely popular sport in metro Atlanta. In 2014, Major League Soccer awarded the city an expansion team that would become Atlanta United FC with Arthur Blank as the club owner. The club practice facility, The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, is located on a 33-acre site in Marietta.
Last month, FIFA announced Atlanta will host eight matches in the 2026 World Cup.
Roswell is among other local cities vying for professional sports teams that would be based in a sports and entertainment mixed-used complex.
Roswell hired Seer last year for advice on the possible development of a stadium and entertainment district. Sorckoff is the former Chief Creative Officer and brand manager for the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena.
Two weeks ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that former NHL player Anson Carter’s organization, Alpharetta Sports and Entertainment Group, submitted a formal request to the NHL to bring an expansion team to the city. The team would be based at the 100-acre North Point mall site that would be potentially redeveloped into a mixed-use entertainment project.
Car dealership owner Vernon Krause is also contending for a NHL expansion team that would be located in an arena at a mixed-use project named The Gathering at South Forsyth.
During the Roswell meeting on Monday, Suzanne Swain, director of outreach for the office of U.S. Rep Rich McCormick, spoke on the congressman’s behalf in pointing out the growth in such areas as north Fulton, South Forsyth and Gwinnett.
“We’ve got a prime location for so many of these great teams to come,” Swain said. “We are attracting new businesses, so I just congratulate you as a city that this is a (possibility) in front of you.”
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