The 2022 FIFA World Cup is up for grabs, with five nations in the running: Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States. Atlanta is one of the 18 American cities included in the final U.S. bid. Games would be played in the Georgia Dome, which ain't really got a whole lot planned for June 2022 anyway, unless if the 24-game NFL season spreads from May to March by then.
Each finalist country has a mark in its CONS column: Australia's pro sports leagues have refused to give up their stadiums without eight- or nine-figure compensation, the Japan Football Association took the country's failure to get the 2016 Olympics as a bad sign, South Korea doesn't have an 80,000-seat stadium yet, the States just held the 1994 Cup, and Qatar has been accused of collusion with Spain, meaning Qatar might be actual CONS.
Atlanta's soccer history goes back longer than you'd think. In 1968 we hosted the first-ever meeting between an American pro team and an English Premier League team, as your Atlanta Chiefs took down Manchester City somehow.
What are our chances at actually pulling this off? UM, MORGAN FREEMAN VOICEOVER MONTAGE AIN'T FAILED US YET:
Three Asian countries in the final five is a bad sign for Uncle Sam's chances, as it seems to signal an intent to go east, but I have five words for you, daughters and sons of Earth: World Cup final in JerryWorld. You've been convinced. Let's get to it.
You can go here to sign Atlanta's petition, which has the second-most signees of any U.S. city behind Houston. That's likely due to an amusing error that lists most cities as having "NaN" supporters, calling to mind this NSFW Trick Daddy song. I thought maybe the widget just isn't set to handle showing six digits worth of supporters, but it shows NaN for Tampa, so obviously that's not the case.