Rome eyed as location for professional soccer team
Rome is on its way to becoming one of several Southeast cities with its own National Independent Soccer Association team.
Marcelo Zapata is a small-business owner and Roswell city councilmember. He met Rome City Commissioner Wendy Davis at a campaigning event a few years ago. After talking about their respective communities and getting to know each other, Davis found out Zapata was looking for a Georgia city to start up a soccer team.
“I told him to stop looking and to come to Rome,” Davis said.
Zapata said soccer is one of his biggest passions and he “has been waiting for it to explode” in Georgia. With Atlanta United growing in popularity and NISA expanding, Zapata began brainstorming ways to create another professional team based out of a Georgia city.
“The mission is to bring the first professional soccer team to the city of Rome and also an opportunity for players to move up and become professional soccer players,” he said.
He pointed out that Rome is centrally located to other cities around the Southeast, including Atlanta; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Birmingham, Alabama.
Combining the number of soccer players from local high schools and nonprofit leagues, such as the YMCA, Zapata said that there are around 1,500 soccer players in the Northwest Georgia area.
He also said Barron Stadium could be a great location for home games.
Zapata has also been in talks with Georgia Highlands College to use their training center for the team.
Soccer season runs from March through October so there would be an overlap with football and track and field, but the games take place on Saturday nights.
“This would benefit the entire community on so many levels,” Zapata said.
There are only two other Southeast professional teams — in Chattanooga and in Charlotte, North Carolina. Other games would have the teams traveling up North or to the West Coast.
Zapata estimates there would be
about 14 home games a season, or two a month.
Davis pointed out that West Coast visiting teams would be arriving early to adjust to the time zone, which would mean more business for downtown and local hotels.
The next steps for this startup include securing Barron Stadium for home games and talking to potential sponsors. After that, they’ll begin scouting for players locally and go from there.
“I think Rome is ready for a professional soccer team . ... This would be a huge innovation, especially for young kids,” Zapata said.