With less than 100 days to Atlanta's 1st FIFA World Cup match, the city's feeling the excitement
We are 95 days from the first FIFA World Cup match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta hopes the FIFA Fan Festival will get folks hyped up inside Centennial Olympic Park, which hosted the 1996 Summer Olympic Games 30 years ago.
"Being 95 days out, everybody was thinking that people were gonna be nervous, but we're seeing excitement," said LaChandra Burks, the city of Atlanta's chief operating officer.
With FIFA hoping to make its mark on the ATL, the city is getting ready for its appearance on the world stage.
Atlanta officials say they have invested $120 million to help prepare for the matches. That includes street paving and better lighting.
"Downtown on the core campus that we have surrounded by 14,000 hotel rooms, all walkable, and you've got infrastructure with transportation and the airport that gets people here easily and moves them around easily," said Dan Corso, the president of the Atlanta Sports Council.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is adding more parking options.
MARTA workers will wear special jerseys on game days to guide visitors in the right direction. SCAD students are designing directional signs and light poles, decked out in FIFA.
"We're just known to host big, and we host big well," Burks said.
Even if you plan to ignore the World Cup hype, public safety still applies.
"For those who are not interested in the games, that they realize when you call 911, APD, fire, we will respond in the same manner that we're responding, even though we have thousands of visitors in town for Atlanta," Burks said.
And Atlanta hopes the event stretches well beyond city limits.
"It becomes bigger than just the matches inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium," Corso said. "Then you look at how we want the region and then the state to embrace this event — to have watch parties all over, to have food festivals, soccer festivals, whatever it may be, to really celebrate, "
Atlanta is hosting eight World Cup matches, including a semifinal. The first match is June 15, when Spain takes on Cabo Verde.
