The state of major professional sports in Atlanta has reached the point where a historic turnaround by the Braves is the best hope for breaking free from mediocrity. No MLB team has made the playoffs after starting 0-7.
If the Braves can’t pull it off, then when will this city have a winner again?
The Hawks just finished their second consecutive season with no playoffs, followed by a head-scratching shake-up of the front office. The Falcons are so inept they’ve managed to miss the playoffs for seven consecutive years in a league that’s engineered for parity. Atlanta United’s worst-ever MLS finish is in sight and the Dream are on a streak of six consecutive losing seasons.
The Braves could be the only winners this year. They entered the weekend with five victories in their past six games. Spencer Strider going on the injured list after one start was a setback, but at least it’s his hamstring and not his arm. Also, the Braves’ good hitters have started hitting and Ronald Acuna will be back soon.
It’s harder to be optimistic about the city’s other four major pro sports franchises.
Atlanta United is built to score but has struggled to put the ball in the net. The 2025 Falcons will have everything riding on inexperienced quarterback Michael Penix Jr. The Hawks have the flexibility to improve the roster this summer, but it’s not clear how much decision-making freedom principal owner Tony Ressler will give the yet-to-be-hired president of basketball operations. The Dream will have to adjust to first-year coach Karl Smesko’s new style.
The buck stops with Atlanta’s franchise owners for the losing. Cheapness isn’t the main issue. It’s true that Ressler’s team has made cost-cutting moves to avoid the luxury tax. The Braves, led by chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk, reduced their payroll for this season after general manager Alex Anthopoulos pledged that it would increase.
I get why fans don’t like decisions driven more by finances than winning. But the problem for Atlanta’s pro teams’ owners is more about how they’ve spent their money than how much they’ve spent.
The Falcons bid against themselves to sign Kirk Cousins for $100 million guaranteed. He was benched after 14 games. I’m doubtful Cousins will be on the roster when the season starts, but leave it to the Falcons to employ the highest-paid backup in NFL history. If Cousins is released, he’ll leave behind a huge salary-cap hit on the team’s ledger just three years after the Falcons went through the same thing with Matt Ryan.
The Hawks signed Trae Young to a five-year contract extension that was worth $215 million once he was voted All-NBA third team in 2022. Young received one All-NBA vote in 2023 and none in 2024. His salary this season is higher than Jayson Tatum’s (four-time All-NBA, 2024 champion) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s, the heavy favorite to win the league MVP award.
Atlanta United spent at least $30 million in transfer fees last offseason for attacking players Emmanuel Latte Lath and Miguel Almiron. Latte Lath scored five non-penalty goals through nine games, and Almiron had one through eight. The Five Stripes scored only 10 open-play goals in their first nine matches, with four shutouts.
The Braves signed Jurickson Profar for $42 million over three years. Anthopoulos said his staff rated Profar as the second-best hitter in free agency behind Mets superstar Juan Soto. That assessment is in question after MLB banned Profar for 80 games for doping. The Braves finally opened their wallet to sign a major free agent, and it turns out he may have conned them.
The Braves can overcome that fiasco. Profar will be back this season. They have enough good players to climb out of the early hole. Anthopoulos has proved he can construct winning teams.
The Hawks, Falcons and Atlanta United have less room for error with the decisions they make around their high-paid stars. Their moves haven’t inspired much faith.
My belief that the Hawks are on the right track was shaken by Ressler’s actions in the aftermath of this season. A long-term vision had come into focus with general manager Landry Fields. Ressler fired him last weekend after Fields had conducted exit interviews with team personnel. Ressler has yet to publicly explain his decisions to his customers, save for a written statement that said little of substance.
At least the Hawks qualified for the playoffs five times since Ressler bought the team in 2015. Arthur Blank’s Falcons last made the postseason in 2017. They are 47-69 since then. Only five NFL teams have a worse record during that time. Only the Jets have a longer playoff drought. At least Blank still can brag about the fan experience at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Now, Blank’s soccer team also is going in the wrong direction.
Team president Garth Lagerwey fired sporting director Carlos Bocanegra in September and hired Chris Henderson in December. Lagerwey and Henderson hired manager Ronny Deila, who won the 2021 MLS Cup with NYCFC. Deila said he planned to play attacking soccer and win consistently. His team struggles to score while winning less than any other Atlanta United team through the first nine games.
There’s some hope that the Dream will improve with Sesko’s direction. He was a winner at the college level. The Dream also signed nine-time All-Star center Brittney Griner and three-time All-Star forward Brionna Jones. They’ll be the inside complement to Sesko’s 3-pointer focused offense.
It’s a bad time for major pro sports in Atlanta. It wasn’t always this way. There was a moment when all five teams were successful at the same time.
Atlanta United won the MLS Cup in December 2018. The Falcons won a playoff game in January 2018. The Braves won the first of six consecutive NL East titles that year. The Hawks finished fifth in the Eastern Conference in 2017-18 before losing to the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. The Dream won the East in 2018.
Now, all five teams are losers at the same time. It’s too early to write off the Braves. The Hawks, Falcons, Atlanta United and Dream have a chance to become winners soon if enough things go right.
In the meantime, it’s on the Braves to carry the flag for professional sports in Atlanta. If they don’t, then it could be a very long year for the city’s pro sports fans.
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