A college town built on the foundation of SEC football is undergoing a quiet, athletic transformation. The new podcast, “Classic City Kick: The Rise of Soccer in Athens, GA,” dives into the local trend that explains why Athens — and the state of Georgia — have become a hotbed for American soccer.
This pilot episode explores a fundamental question: How did the game take root here, and what policy and cultural forces allowed it to flourish?
The Story and Context
The podcast offers a unique, hyper-local analysis that serves the Athens and greater UGA community. The timing is crucial, coinciding with the launch of the new Athens United USL League teams and the relocation of the U.S. Soccer Federation headquarters to Atlanta. The show argues that this current boom is built on decades of overlooked history.
The pilot episode features essential expert insight from co-host Welch Suggs, associate director of the Carmical Sports Media Institute and an associate professor at Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. Suggs provides the crucial academic and policy context that connects the local youth fields to the national conversation.
The Book Behind the Boom
Suggs’s expertise is rooted in his ongoing research for his forthcoming book, “Georgia and the Beautiful Game.” This project, which he anticipates finishing next October with a release planned for 2027, traces the game’s history from late 19th-century immigrant communities and the impact of the 1996 Olympics to the present day.
In this episode, Suggs discusses how Title IX played a pivotal, though indirect, role in boosting the game, and why high-school football’s decline across the state is opening new cultural space for soccer to grow.
Listen Now
Listen to the full pilot episode here.
Grant Turnage is a journalism major in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
Show Comments (0)