The Professional Sports Teams of Atlanta

Comments Off on The Professional Sports Teams of Atlanta

When someone mentions Atlanta there are probably several things that come to mind, perhaps the musical history associated with the city, maybe the impact Atlanta had during the civil rights movement, or even their infamous airport; one thing we all think of for sure, however, is the number of professional sports teams that represent the city. If you are a sports fan, and you are visiting Atlanta then you most certainly don’t want to miss out on seeing some of the top teams play or getting involved in the history that surrounds them. Check out our guide below with all the information you need on the top teams in the city!

Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks is the city’s greatest and most popular basketball team competing in the NBA as part of the Eastern Conference. Despite now being Atlanta’s team, the Hawkes were formed in 1948 and it would be another twenty-two years before the team was sold to Georgia and officially made the Atlanta Hawks. Officially, the team started off in the city of Buffalo in New York, under the name the Buffalo Bisons, however, this last for only a little over a month before the team was moved to Illinois, and given the new name of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. Shortly after this move, the NBA was created, and the team struggled for years t make any kind of headway in the league. So, in search of greater success, in 1951 the team was moved once again to Milwaukee, where their team name was also changed to be just ‘Hawks’. Unfortunately, the success that everyone was hoping for never came and in 1955 the team was moved yet again to St. Louis in Missouri where they played for the next thirteen years.

Finally, the Hawks started to make an impression in the basketball world, and had much greater success than before, despite only winning the NBA Championship once in 1958, the Hawks were still consistently in the top teams of the league year after year while being in Missouri. The team made their fourth and final move to Atlanta in 1968, when the owner at the time Ben Kerner was fed up with the small and unmaintained stadium that the team played at in Missouri. The Hawks were sold to a real estate developer in Atlanta, where they have stayed ever since. The Hawks have never had a huge amount of success in Atlanta, having won the NBA, and made the final four times all while playing in St. Louis.

The home stadium of the Atlanta Hawks is the State Farm Arena which has recently undergone a huge renovation, and can be found at the following address; 1 State Farm Drive, Atlanta.

Atlanta Braves

No city is complete without a professional baseball team, and that’s where the Atlanta Braves come in. The club was first formed in 1871 and has played as Atlanta’s team since 1966. Before its residence in Atlanta, the Braves previously played in Milwaukee, and in Boston before that. Due to the Brave’s long history, they have managed to take the title of being the only major league team that exists today to have played in every single professional baseball season since the inception of the MLB in 1869. The club had huge success in their early days winning the world series in 1914 as the Boston Braves and consistently playing to a high standard.

Their success started to dwindle, however, and with the rise of the Boston Red Sox, it was accepted that the Braves were no longer good enough to compete for Boston. Therefore, in 1952 the team was moved to Milwaukee and once again started well, eventually winning another world series in 1957, but it still wasn’t enough to keep attendance high so the decision was finally made for the team to be moved to Atlanta in 1966. The Braves went on to win the world series for the third time in Atlanta in 1995, and despite a history of ups and downs, the team has reached a more stable and consistent success.

The Braves currently play their games at SunTrust Park, having moved there from Turner Field in 2017. The stadium is located at 755 Battery Avenue, Cobb County, Atlanta.

Atlanta Falcons

A football team for Atlanta was first established in 1965, and the team that went on to be called the Atlanta Falcons was established in 1966 then joining the NFL in the same year, the team has been located in Atlanta since its inception. This was the first football team to be established in Atlanta, who at the time, thought it was a good idea to start pursuing success in the NFL, and the NFL was hopeful that the Atlanta Falcons could bring popularity to, what was a new league. The road to success was a long one, however, and it was thirty- three years before the Falcons finally won a Championship. The team had very few positive results until that point, having spent year after year losing most games, and coming in the bottom half of the leagues. It wasn’t even until the mid-seventies when they finally managed to acquire a star player (Steve Bartkowski), who helped the team start to make headway in the league, but it still wasn’t enough and the Falcons continued their losing streak for the next couple of decades. They managed to pull it out the bag once again in 2017 and win another Championship, but the team has been suffering from injuries ever since, they missed the playoffs in 2018, and are yet to make an impression since the win two years ago.

Games for the Atlanta Falcons are played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium situated at 1 AMB Drive North West, Atlanta. For American football, the stadium has a capacity of just over seventy thousand.

Atlanta is already full of many wonderful sights to see and places to visit, but making time to experience the atmosphere of one of Atlanta’s professional sports teams in action is definitely worth it!

Looking for ATL airport parking? We offer guaranteed parking near the Atlanta Airport at cheap parking rates. Our near Atlanta airport parking deal comes with a FREE shuttle to and from the Atlanta Airport. Reserve parking now before we run out of this limited parking deal!