I’ve now been going into the office for the last 3 weeks. It’s been interesting to see what has changed in downtown Atlanta.
First of all, there are police officers on every street corner when there is a game being played in Atlanta. I’ve never seen such a police presence in the city, and there haven’t been any issues with the crowds downtown. Good on them. Of course, there is a lot of representation from law enforcement, the fire department, and EMS around the Fan Fest. I even saw a shade tent for Customs and Border Patrol. Why CBP needs to be in downtown Atlanta is beyond me. But I did learn that the Atlanta Police Department is specifically refusing to work with ICE during the World Cup, which is heartening.
Perhaps the biggest surprise has been Marta. First of all, Marta was supposed to deploy 224 new train cars last year, then earlier this year the the week before the World Cup started. Nada. We still have the old cars in service, some of which are decades old. I was also quite surprised to see that some Marta stations hadn’t gotten the new turnstiles into service either. The station next to the stadium definitely had the new turnstiles up and running, but Inman Park and Five Points did not. This meant that you could get on the train in Inman Park and get off at Five Point and never pay the fare. Seriously, Marta, you’ve known about the World Cup for 8 years, and you’re missing out on so much revenue. Surely, heads are rolling at Marta.
But, on the Marta plus side, they have been running extra trains on game days. When we went to watch Spain vs Saudi Arabia, the trains were running every 2 minutes, and this was on a Sunday morning when trains typically run every 20 minutes. The stations also had Marta employee volunteers at each station to help visitors with questions.
Also, the renovation of the platform areas at Five Points station got completed. Upstairs there are still a lot of plywood barricades as the renovation is scheduled to continue through 2028. But at least the barricades are branded for the tournament.
In downtown Atlanta, I’ve seen a lot of temporary signage to help visitors figure out where to go. I haven’t seen that many visitors around my office, because Fan Fest and the stadium are about 4 blocks away. But I did see a temporary public toilet in one of the city parks. Additionally, the fountains in the park were cleaned out and are now full of water and running. They had been turned off for a couple of years, probably to conserve water.
The construction in the park is still going on, and it turns out that they are building a dog park. This is interesting because it indicates an anticipation for more people living in the heart of downtown. This is also interesting because I’m surprised that the City allowed this construction to be occurring during the World Cup. There is a moratorium on starting new construction projects during this time (and I know this because my firm has projects downtown), but I guess the City projects are exempt.
One of the funnest and funniest things I’ve discovered has been foreigners sharing their experiences in the USA. I’ve heard about a German guy and a Swedish woman who are (separately, they are not traveling together) documenting their fan experiences. The woman posted a photo of her hand holding a Twinkie and Doritos bag captioned, “I feel like I’m in a movie right now.” The guy posted a picture of a Buc-ees in Alabama and its crazy number of gas pumps and said, “This is a gas station in America.”
Apparently visitors are also obsessed Ranch dressing. Do a google photo search for TSA Ranch dressing and you can see that people are trying to take full bottles of Ranch dressing home in their carry-on bags.
People are also really into Waffle House. Waffle House is a staple in the South. It is open 24 hours a day and serves breakfast and lunch-type stuff, so it’s the perfect place to go when you’ve flown in from another time zone and are jet-lagged and it’s the middle of the night. (Waffle House also has an interesting business philosophy about being a shelter/destination in a weather emergency. Another thing to google, it’s very interesting, and I have friends who have taken advantage of this.) Anyway, Waffle House did themselves a solid and made branded soccer jerseys that I have seen around town. Awesome.
Finally, here are some misc photos that I have snapped over the last 3 weeks:
