The stadium lights flickered, then dimmed to darkness. The microphones had been shut down and packed away, and the voices of 55,000 roaring fans had long since faded into the warm Georgia air. It was Atlanta United’s inaugural match, and Jason Longshore was sitting in a midtown parking garage trying to soak in whatever was left of the night.
“It was emotional –– unexpected, yet in a way expected. I always knew Atlanta could support a team that way, but I didn’t know it would happen that fast."
"It just captured this moment in Atlanta in the absolute perfect way.”
Not many knew what to expect from Atlanta United and its fans, but Jason saw the signs. That may be because he –– perhaps as much as anyone else –– helped plant the seeds along the way.
Jason was a bit of an outlier growing up, a soccer nut in the land of college football and a budding Braves dynasty in the late 80’s and early 90’s. But Diego Maradona and the 1986 World Cup introduced him to a life-long love.
“After that World Cup, I was all soccer all the time. I wanted more of it in my life but it just wasn’t there."
"We had our local league and that was pretty much all there was, aside from the occasional U.S. National Team game on TV. I played every chance I had, checked every book I could out of the library, whatever I could to try to learn the history.”
Jason’s thirst for soccer only grew with the arrival of the Atlanta Ruckus, the first pro team in Atlanta in his lifetime. He subscribed to a North American soccer e-mail list –– this was before social media or message boards after all –– and started writing match reports for the team just for the chance at free tickets. He says those first crowds were the first hints at a real culture of soccer fandom. But when financial troubles hit team ownership, Jason, an intern at the time, was thrust into a leadership role.
“The league pulled the franchise from the owner and asked if I could finish out the season until they could find another. I was delivering newspapers for the old Atlanta Journal that summer."
"For three or four hours a day I was throwing papers out of the car window, the rest I’m the director of operations for an A League soccer team, signing players for a few hundred bucks per game.
"It was as minor league as it gets, but we kept the team afloat, then the Silverbacks ownership came in and had a long run from there.”
After a few years out of the soccer scene, Jason found himself desperate to get back to what he loved. He learned about an organization called Soccer in the Streets, and a part-time gig would turn into ten years of his life.
“I fell in love with the mission of the organization, using soccer to benefit kids’ lives. It benefited my life, so it was good to pass it on. I was really proud we were able to go from working with a few hundred kids per year when I started, to working with thousands of kids and really planting the seeds for a lot of what’s going on now.
Jason talks a lot about the “seeds” of soccer in the South. The Atlanta Chiefs planted some back in the '60's and ‘70’s, as did the Ruckus, the Silverbacks, and programs like Soccer in the Streets more recently. But he says those seeds could never fully grow until a few years ago.
“When the MLS expansion bid was announced, I knew the Atlanta soccer community inside and out. I knew it was big and I knew it was bigger than people thought it was. But it’s not just the hardcore, long-time soccer people that are living and dying with this club. Atlanta’s soccer scene needed to mature a bit, the league needed to mature and Atlanta as a city needed to mature. But it all came together in the right way.
"The timing and everything happened for a reason, and it was perfect.”
Which brings us to March 5th, 2017, the 55,000+ fans and Jason sitting alone in his car in a parking garage. The match was a blur; all he can remember was the endless stands of red, black and gold kits and the unbelievable crowd roar. He had just been named the color commentator for 92.9 The Game. And there he was, holding a microphone ready to call his first game.
“I was nervous because I’d never called a game live on Atlanta radio before, and it still doesn’t seem real that I get to do it. As a kid, I listened to Larry Munson for UGA games, Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren for Braves games, so sports on the radio was just part of my life from when I was a little kid. I always wanted that for soccer, but I didn’t know it could happen. It doesn’t happen in every city and I didn’t know if it was going to happen here."
"Now I go back and watch games and I realize I was there, involved with that, and it just doesn’t seem real.”
Now he knows that soccer in the South has been changed forever, those seeds that were planted years ago have finally bloomed. And looking back at his soccer-starved childhood, he knows kids in Atlanta will never feel that way again.
“It was fits and starts for soccer in Atlanta for 50 years. But Atlanta United has taken all the seeds planted by everyone that’s worked in soccer in this city and is finally allowing them to fully blossom."
"I’m blessed to have been able to plant a few of those, and to now see them come to fruition. Kids I coached at Soccer in the Streets are now in the stands at Atlanta United matches and in the supporters groups. Friends from years ago are wearing the kit. And just to think that I had some small hand in that is pretty amazing.“
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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