Atlanta United Gains More Space for Productions, Creative Projects at New Emory Healthcare Studio in Marietta

Three separate rooms are a major upgrade at the club’s training facility

The 2025 Major League Soccer season is winding down, but Atlanta United is ending the year on a high note with the opening of its new Emory Healthcare Studio at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground in Marietta, GA. The new production space, with system integration by Alpha, will significantly expand the club’s preexisting footprint and feature three rooms for live shoots on its digital platforms, still photography, and podcasting.

Emory Healthcare Studio is located at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground in Marietta, GA. (All photos: Atlanta United FC)

“What we’re going from to what we have now is a whole new world,” says Matt Moore, director, broadcast and video production, Atlanta United. “The capabilities are endless, and, with this technology, we can do pretty much anything and everything that people are asking for.”

Much-Needed Upgrade: Club Aims To Grow Setup for Enhanced Content

With MLS’s increased popularity, creative content and production crews are looking to capitalize on an uptick in viewership. In a soccer-crazed town like Atlanta, giving supporters of Atlanta United the content they crave is a top priority for the organization. Having to meet those needs is a year-long task, so creating a specific home for the effort was critical to Moore and his crew. Without a permanent home, Atlanta United’s previous setup wasn’t particularly conducive to the material that they were looking to produce.

“We did a lot with the little room that was given to us when we first moved into this facility,” says Moore. “We did a lot of interviews and photo shoots in there, but it was very cramped and not ideal for how we’re trying to innovate.”

Many professional clubs’ production crews working in the digital space experience the same dilemma, but the paradigm is shifting as ownership groups find more value in content created away from the stadium. AMB Sports + Entertainment, the parent of Atlanta United and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, is bullish on bolstering non–game-day operations. Owner Arthur M. Blank; Chief Business Officer Skate Noftsinger; SVP, Strategy, Dimitrios Efstathiou, and other executives in the organization were all-in on the project.

“This world-class facility,” says Noftsinger, “showcases Arthur’s commitment to Atlanta United as the gold standard in MLS by raising the bar for player health and wellbeing, youth development, and content production, while giving us the ability to host international clubs and federations ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and beyond. This expansion gives our players and associates the resources they need to perform at their best and to bring an unmatched soccer experience to the entire Atlanta community.”

The entrance to Emory Healthcare Studio

With this backing, Moore and company had to find a partner to execute their vision. After Atlanta Falcons Senior Director, Video and Broadcast, Austin Hittel and Studio Production Manager/Producer Sam Larsen partnered with Alpha to open Ticketmaster Studios at that team’s training facility in Flowery Branch, GA, in 2023, the Atlanta United team didn’t need to look too far.

“Atlanta United saw what we did for the Falcons and loved it,” says Jeff Volk, EVP, strategic accounts, sports and live events, Alpha. “With the Blank Family of Businesses wanting to establish Atlanta as a hub for soccer in the U.S., we’re looking for a way to capitalize on that and be a leader, not just in MLS but a global leader.”

A model of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Halo Board sits above the studio space.

While busy working with the Falcons, Alpha was also helping Atlanta United conceive what would eventually become this real-world facility. When the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup was announced and Atlanta was named one of the host cities in North America, there was greater urgency to complete the studio project before next summer’s international tournament. Volk and his team entered the in-depth planning and design-development phases last summer before getting to today’s formal ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“They have been really great partners, setting up multiple meetings to show us what would work best,” says Moore. “We shared with them what we thought we would like, based on our design layout. It has been a nice process.”

Tariffs and Tech: Price Changes Present a Challenge

Projects of this magnitude always come with last-minute hiccups or unavoidable obstacles along the way. Fortunately, few unforeseen issues popped up, because the club took time to achieve the desired result over a long period of time. The only issue that did occur impacted financial decisions rather than physical or stylistic choices: the state of global economics and the implementation of tariffs by the current presidential administration threw a bit of a wrench in their plans.

“We had to manage price changes and availability of products,” Volk explains. “This had a dramatic impact on projects from budgeting, scheduling, and integration perspectives. We would order something in March that wasn’t delivered until the end of August. We initially thought that the video wall was going to arrive in early to mid July, and our timeline to build the rest of the scenic was substantially different when it arrived six weeks later. We initially had plenty of time, but scheduling conundrums and needing to fit all these pieces of the puzzle together became increasingly challenging.”

The main studio will be reserved for live original series, match coverage and analysis, and special events.

Although the challenges made the project more difficult, the crew’s patience in waiting for the right equipment is paying off. To streamline workflows for productions at Atlanta United’s Emory Healthcare Studio, Atlanta Falcons’ Ticketmaster Studios, and videoboard shows at the two teams’ home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, there is similar equipment in all three control rooms.

“There’s a spirit of collaboration between the different groups,” adds Volk. “We tried to design [Emory Healthcare Studio] with a bit of commonality so the Falcons can use some of Atlanta United’s cameras for their Media Day or vice versa. Having that interoperability between facilities was a stated goal from Matt and his team.”

A secondary studio will house photography shoots, Media Day sessions, and other video projects.

Not only can the franchises share equipment, but staffers can be shared as well. It’s one of the reasons AMB Sports + Entertainment has become a successful parent organization and why Mercedes-Benz Stadium is able to host a full calendar’s worth of sports events.

“We can ask the Falcons for recommendations of people that have worked at the stadium and at Flowery Branch,” says Moore, “and our engineering team can help them solve issues that we’re familiar with. The Falcons have been invaluable, and I’m proud of how we’ve been able to work together.”

Studio Walkthrough: Dedicated Rooms for Photography, Podcasting 

Located inside Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, Emory Healthcare Studio is headlined by a primary space for live original series, such as Rooted in the Stripes and 5-Stripes Unplugged; match coverage and analysis; and special events. This main studio has a 14.5-ft.-wide by 6-ft.-high LED wall installed by Primeview, custom lighting by Integrated Lighting Systems (ILS), and a scenic package designed by Provost Studio and implemented by Pinnacle. A secondary space across the hall will house photography shoots, Media Day sessions, and other video projects with lighting by ILS. On the second floor, a podcasting studio, with lighting by ILS, will offer more opportunities for audio content. A fully integrated control room will centralize productions and connect the three rooms together and will tie this hub to the new press-conference room on the first floor.

On the second floor, a podcasting studio will offer more opportunities for audio content.

“We’ll produce new content,” notes Moore, “but we wanted to have a space for us to do better the things that we’re currently doing. We can take a new player through a car-wash–style process [at the training facility] rather than taking them to the studio at the stadium or trying to find available place in the training facility.”

In addition, accessibility to the players will be even better since they spend most of their days at the training facility. Without having to waste time on setting up an on-the-go set, Moore can grab players after training, on their way out for lunch, or before heading home for the day.

“The locker room is right down the hall,” notes Moore. “They can come in whenever they want without having to leave the building. It’s going to change the game on how we’re able to quickly turn content around for our digital platforms.”

On the tech side, Atlanta United will be working with three Grass Valley LDX 92 cameras that have Canon 2/3-in. UHD 7.6-190mm full-servo lenses, three Sony PTZ cameras (one BRC-X1000, one BRC-H900, and one BRC-H800) with camera support from Joseph Electronics, and three Sony FWD-85X80K 4K HDR LED displays being converted by three AJA Hi5-4K-Plus devices.

A fully integrated control room will centralize productions and connect studios in three facilities.

The control room features Ross Video gear: a CUF-124 Carbonite Ultra production switcher with a TouchDrive control panel, XPression graphics, and a four-channel Tria+ suite of production-server software. In addition, there is an Evertz complement: NEXX 5RU routing switcher; a CP-1000E 1RU router-control panel; a CP-2232E 2RU advanced system-control panel; a 5700MSC-IP+SDITG+2PS+AUX master-sync pulse generator; various tally routers, including a 7801FR+781PS, a 7801FC, a 7800TR-32X24+3RU, and a 7800TR-BHP; and more. Other important gear includes nine Sony 4K HDR LED FWD-55X81CH displays that are being converted by 13 AJA HI5-PLUS-R1 devices, nine Samsung FT45 professional 24-in. LED computer monitors, KVM from Adder’s ADDERLink INFINITY, RTS for comms, test and measurement workflows from Telestream, audio consoles from Allen & Heath, and furnishings from Forecast Consoles.

World Cup Year: New Studios Help Franchise Build Momentum Toward 2026

The eyes of the sports word will be on North America next summer for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Numerous U.S. cities will be involved, and, with Atlanta being one of them, soccer fever is ramping up to an all-time high in the Georgia capital. With this heightened excitement, the studio project is a noteworthy feather in Alpha’s cap. After successful NFL deployments — the Minnesota Vikings’ TCO Studios in 2018, the Denver Broncos’ studio at UCHealth Training Center in 2019,  the Las Vegas Raiders’ studio at Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center in 2020, Falcons in 2023 — and numerous projects in collegiate athletics, Alpha was ready to branch out and make headway in another professional league.

“The exciting thing about this project is the investment that teams have been making in facilities like this,” says Volk. “It has been great to work with an organization that wants to trailblaze within their league and set the bar that defines what the market is.”

At Atlanta United, Moore and his crew have envisioned a space like this for a long time. His team — which includes Senior Video Content Producer Louis “Van” Emberger; Video Content Producers Ravi Mody, Sonya Ivaschenko, and Frank Martinez; Motion Graphics Producer/ Video Editor Khoury Kennedy; Video Project Manager Holly Vera; and Bilingual Host Joe Freihofer — is in the midst of a tricky transition. For example, the club is focusing on the three remaining regular-season games — including the season finale at home against D.C. United on Saturday, Oct. 18 — but it’s also getting set for the 2026 campaign in Emory Healthcare Studio.

“We’ve done some brainstorming with the entire company on what they’d like to see [next season],” says Moore, “but, for events like the FIFA Men’s World Cup Draw on Dec. 5, we’d love to host something like a Watch Along or capture the reaction of some of our players that are potentially participating in the World Cup. As we get into January, we’ll start with Media Day and producing shows in our podcast studio to allow our fans to get to know our players’ personalities.”

Emory Healthcare Studio presents a treasure trove of possibilities to further engage the club’s fanbase. Whether it’s telling untold stories of those on the pitch and in the front office, making new signees feel welcome on their first day at the club, or creating a deeper connection between roster and supporters, this space couldn’t have opened at a better time.

“We want to build our players into stars and have our fans feel like they’re in the building with the team,” adds Moore. “We’ll have new sets that will look a lot better and fresh ways to shoot content that will be more appealing to the partner and our consumers, and this technology will allow us to do that on a weekly basis. We’re excited to kick off what should be a historic year for soccer in the U.S. It’s perfect time to open a new studio as we go into 2026.”