Will Atlanta suburb’s bond-issuing authority fund a soccer stadium?

The Atlanta suburb of Roswell has boosted its prospects for getting directly involved in commercial development with a public authority that can issue bonds to raise funds to back projects.

The Roswell Public Facilities Authority got a go-ahead when Gov. Brian Kemp signed a state law, which was required to clear the way for the move, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

Members of the city council serving the northern Fulton County municipality will have seats on the board of the authority, and each will appoint a resident to serve a four-year term.

The plan is for the authority to issue bonds for infrastructure or whole developments. One elected official of Roswell, city Councilmember Allen Sells, said the authority could offset the needs for residents’ property taxes, adding that it could raise funds for some sort of sports stadium.

Sells declined to say whether the authority would raise funds specifically to pay for a stadium that’s been envisioned by city officials and the United Soccer League, which would put a team in Roswell.

The USL is a secondary league in soccer, which is on the cusp of joining baseball, football, basketball and hockey as primary sports in the U.S. 

Soccer’s popularity is growing throughout the country and in the Atlanta metro, where Major League Soccer has a franchise owned by Arthur Blank, who also owns the Falcons professional football franchise. Atlanta also has been chosen as one of a handful of markets to host a handful of preliminary games of the 2026 World Cup tournament.

Sports stadiums are increasingly seen as anchors for larger commercial developments, with recent trends running toward suburban locations. The Atlanta Braves professional baseball franchise helped establish the trend when it shifted from a facility just south of downtown to the Truist Stadium development about 10 miles northwest of the city’s center.

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