Atlanta . . . a nice city, but for MLS soccer?

When someone starts a blog post batting eyelashes and rattling off flattering and familiar things about your city, you know there’s a “but” coming.

And this “but,” posted recently on the Olé Olé blog, is about the prospects, however fleeting, of Major League Soccer in these parts. But — and here’s my “but” — the blogger’s rationale for why Atlanta shouldn’t be automatically regarded as the leading MLS market in the South is specious at best:

“Atlanta’s gravitational pull has been lessened by the rise of fellow Southern cities like Birmingham, Nashville, Raleigh, Memphis, and Atlanta’s second-city and biggest rival, Charlotte.”

Um, not to sound like a Chamber of Commerce harpie here, but only the Carolina markets (along with Miami) have been mentioned specifically by Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber in regards to possible MLS expansion, and that was only recently.

Despite the long-standing obstacles for an MLS presence in Atlanta — namely, the lack of an appropriate stadium — the city has always been on the league’s radar, from the very beginning. It continues to be uttered by Garber, who has been increasingly adamant that MLS eventually should locate in the Southeast.

I have nothing against any of those other cities, all of which I have enjoyed visiting, and in some ways prefer over Atlanta. Their smaller sizes and lower costs of living are very appealing. There’s a lot less pretentiousness, a more down-to-earth bonhomie. They’re not striving, almost laughably as Atlanta has for decades, to be an international city.

And some of them are very good pro sports towns, as good as Atlanta if not better. Falcons owner and prospective MLS investor Arthur Blank would give anything for the stadiums that the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers play in. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers too.

But in spite of the serious efforts in those cities to attract big-time soccer — Nashville recently had a U.S. World Cup qualifier, and Birmingham has played host to the Yanks as well — Atlanta remains the most viable and enviable market for MLS in the Southeast (excluding Florida from this discussion). The size and variety of its population, its central location that draws fans from several surrounding states, its home as the headquarters of top corporations (potential and existing sponsors!), its airport and its track record as a good TV market for soccer are the most critical factors in Atlanta’s favor.

In other words, all the factors that our Charlotte-based blogging friend asserts has made Atlanta undeservedly feeling entitled to an MLS franchise.

However, that doesn’t really change the total picture that MLS puts together when assessing potential expansion cities. And let’s not get delusional about Chattanooga as a candidate. Yes, that city has turned out in good numbers for its NPSL team, and has an MLS-specific stadium already standing. If only someone in Atlanta had had such foresight . . .

But like Rochester, Chattanooga is simply far too small as a market for MLS. And there’s got to be a deep-pocketed Daddy Warbucks waiting to finance a franchise. Until Blank submitted (and later withdrew) an MLS bid last winter, Atlanta was in the same boat.

MLS is expanding into cities that are already soccer hotbeds, such as Seattle, Portland and Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest. Toronto had horrendous crowds during its United Soccer Leagues years, but with a diverse cosmopolitan population, it now has some of the most passionate fans in MLS.

Even if Blank ponies up, gets a stadium built and offers Atlanta for MLS consideration, remember that this city is not a particularly good sports town, haunted by fair-weather fans during the glory years of the Braves. MLS is rightly concerned about attendance and doesn’t want to risk locating in a city that isn’t going to support a team.

So while Atlanta maintains quite a few advantages over its Southeastern rivals, it’s got to do more than provide a place to play. Convincing MLS that there’s a big enough, passionate enough fan base that will keep turning out might be the hardest obstacle of all.