"Golden Spike": Examining Atlanta United's Communication Strategies and Brand Attributes from Launch to Kickoff

Abstract

Abstract: Atlanta United FC is a soccer club in Major League Soccer (MLS) that set a league record for average home attendance—48,200 people—during its inaugural season that surpassed season records in the NBA, NHL, and MLB (Lamle, 2017; Panizo, 2017). How an organization communicates with its publics can influence people's attitudes toward it (Grunig, 1978). This research explores what Atlanta United FC did from the communication perspective of press releases to create an effective brand before the team played its first game. The study adopts Hazleton's (1992) taxonomy of public relations strategies along with Gladden and Funk's (2002) team association model (TAM) to examine what communication approach Atlanta United applied during the team's launch, specifically to consider what brand attributes were communicated to its publics. This qualitative analysis suggests how new sports organizations might communicate various brand attributes. Three emergent themes from Atlanta United's approach are suggested additions to the TAM from the successful communication process during a sports team's launch.