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Professional soccer attendance records fall in Atlanta and Cincinnati

The story of American soccer’s growth is told in the Pacific Northwest, in ethnic communities, some college towns and in traditional urban centers from coast to coast. Increasingly, though, the sport has taken hold in unconventional locations.

On Saturday, pro attendance records fell not in Los Angeles, Seattle or New York but in Atlanta and Cincinnati.

At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the brand-new southern cradle for the NFL and Southeastern Conference football, first-year Atlanta United drew the largest crowd for a stand-alone MLS match in the league’s 22-season history (70,425).

It was not an anomaly. While awaiting completion of the marvelous structure, the club averaged more than 40,000 at Georgia Tech and attracted 45,314 and 42,511 for the first two matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is downsized for most MLS dates.