Four moments Atlanta Falcons fans should be thankful for
By Joe Beasley
Fans wouldn’t have much to be thankful for if it wasn’t for this date. June 30th, 1965.
What is the importance of that date you might ask? This was the date that the NFL awarded the city of Atlanta their very own franchise and the league’s 15th team.
This team would end up being the Atlanta Falcons and well it almost didn’t happen. The NFL wasn’t the only team trying to expand at that time.
The AFL had a few games in the city of Atlanta and the league had an interest in putting a franchise there. The completion between the two leagues was fierce and it was so fierce that NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle flew to Atlanta to block the AFL from putting a franchise there and made the city make a decision.
The city ended up choosing the NFL and thus the franchise as the Atlanta Falcons came to fruition.
The support from the city was astronomical. For their inaugural season, the team set season ticket sales record with no promotion with purchase 45,000 tickets with the previous record at that time being 26,000 tickets by the Minnesota Vikings and their fans in 1961.
Next. Falcons have lost home field advantage under Quinn. dark
The undying support from the Falcons fan base exists to this day even though they haven’t been the most successful franchise but that date will always be remembered when profession football made its mark on the city of Atlanta.