Sports

For the 30th anniversary of Atlanta's first sports championship, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Marquis Grissom, and more look back on the first moments of spring training to the final out of the 1995 World Series.

Tucked along a stretch of East Point’s Sumner Park, the Dick Lane Velodrome is a concrete time machine where neighborhood kids, adults, and elite athletes alike chase speed and strategy in thundering laps. The high-banked racetrack, a centuries-old invention, invites cyclists to push the limits of physics at breakneck speeds in a crucible of grit and centrifugal force.

In 1995, developer Tom Cousins purchased East Lake Golf Club, the historic home course of Bobby Jones that had fallen into disrepair. Cousins had a vision not only of restoring the golf course to its former glory, but also rejuvenating the community around the club. To do so, he created the East Lake Foundation to build mixed-income housing and provide more education and job opportunities for residents. It didn’t take long for Cousins’ vision to start to become a reality.

On a rainy summer Sunday afternoon downtown, Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted the final two games of the 2025 Premier League Summer Season, a tune-up for British teams ahead of the upcoming English Premier League season. The games capped off a summer of international soccer at Mercedes-Benz, another step in Atlanta’s quest to cement itself as the country’s up-and-coming soccer capital.

Located a short walk from both the Battery and Atlanta Braves’ home stadium, the Capital One All-Star Village is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from July 12 to 15 and gives fans the opportunity to score autographs from MLB legends, take a stab at batting and pitching, and compete in games for baseball swag.

The MLB All-Star Game: a once meaningful, now aimless whirlwind, which cities nevertheless still clamor to host. The Midsummer Classic has been played in Atlanta three times. It was almost four: In 2021 the Georgia General Assembly passed the controversial Election Integrity Act that placed heavy restrictions on voting access. In protest, MLB moved that year’s edition to Denver. Four years later, the Election Integrity Act remains in place, but MLB has brought the All-Star Game back to Atlanta.

Though it was founded just last year, Decatur F.C., a women’s semi-professional soccer team in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, has quickly become a staple of the city’s culture. In its inaugural WPSL season, Decatur F.C. finished second in the Peachtree Division and 16th nationally out of 142 teams. Most notably, Decatur F.C. attracted a crowd of 2,126 fans to its home game against Georgia Impact at Decatur High School’s stadium—setting a new attendance record in the then 26-year-old league.

Atlanta will host eight games including a semi-final, expecting to draw about 300,000 fans and create what Atlanta World Cup Host Committee Chief Operating Officer Georgia O’Donoghue likened to “eight Super Bowls in 39 days.” Here are some of the ways the city is preparing for the epic event.

There was no epic battle between Caitlin Clark and Brittney Griner. On the court, at least, it was the WNBA stars a casual fan hasn’t heard about who put on a show for the fans.

Atlanta is widely acknowledged as the tennis capital of the world, with more than 100,000 players throughout the metro area in leagues such as the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) and USTA Atlanta. It’s near impossible to get an exact number, with those participating in junior tennis, high school, and college teams, as well as those who play independently or in private clubs, adding to the tennis craze.