Atlanta United Is a Dead Product

544,516 people watched World Cup soccer in Mercedes-Benz Stadium this summer. Atlanta United drew 35,308 for their last home game. Same building. Same sport. Half the crowd.

That's not a slump. That's a product nobody wants to buy.

I'm 65% sure this rebuild takes three years minimum. And I'm being generous. You don't sell your best attacker mid-season, bring in two defenders who can't get work visas, sit 14th in the East with 11 points from 14 games, and call it a plan. That's not rebuilding. That's decomposing.

Tonight Atlanta watches the World Cup Final at Piedmont Park with Ludacris and 50,000 of their closest friends. More soccer enthusiasm in one free watch party than United will generate in a month of home games. The city just proved it's a world-class football town. The Five Stripes proved they're not a world-class football club. Both things happened simultaneously. In the same ZIP code.

3-9-2. Seven points back of the playoff line with identical games played. Nashville — the conference leader — just reminded everyone what a functional MLS team looks like.

Arthur Blank built this soccer market. He deserves credit for that. But the product on the field right now is unwatchable, and no transfer window fixes the gap between what this city just experienced and what United is offering.

The autopsy is already in progress. Tell me I'm wrong.