There’s a sentence that’s embedded in the memory of any Atlantan old enough to remember September 18, 1990: “The International Olympic Committee has awarded the 1996 Olympic Games to the city of … Atlanta!” It was an achievement that wasn’t supposed to happen. Atlanta was the underdog, competing against the historic capital of Athens, Greece, which had an ironclad claim to Olympic heritage. But Atlanta’s bid stood out because of its emphasis on community engagement and volunteerism—and the confidence among city leaders that Atlanta could manage an event of that magnitude. “When we started the journey to bring the Olympic Games to Atlanta, it was based on a sense of civic pride,” says Billy Payne, who was president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. “Mayor Andy Young and I had a belief that Atlanta had the combination of civic, corporate, and political leadership to be a world-class host.” At the time, the city was already in the midst of major change. Urban renewal and development projects, including the completion of the Georgia World Congress Center, Omni Coliseum (now State Farm Arena), and Peachtree Center, had reshaped intown Atlanta. Winning the Games was an accelerant, ushering in even more infrastructure (most visibly the creation of Olympic Stadium, now part of Georgia State University) and raising the city’s profile on the global stage. The Olympics also demonstrated the strength of public-private partnerships in Atlanta, a model that would be repeated in the years to come. Preparation for the Games was facilitated by a three-way alliance between the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia (by way of the Metropolitan Atlanta Olympic Games Authority, created by the Georgia General Assembly), and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, a private organization. “Probably the biggest gift of the Olympics—besides the fact that it was an unbelievable experience for Atlanta—was that it proved that by putting our heads and hands together, we could accomplish anything,” says A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. “Putting on the Olympics proved to Atlanta, and to a lot of people, that the city was very capable.” Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympic Games, which supercharged the city’s growth.Photograph by AP Images A Growing Sports Capital Atlanta leaders used the hype surrounding the Olympics—and the venues and facilities built for the Games—as a catalyst to establish the city as a regular host for major sporting events. The city welcomed its first Super Bowl in 1994, and then again in 2000 and 2019. The NCAA brought the women’s Final Four in 1993 and 2003 and the men’s Final Four in 2002, 2007, and 2013 (it’s also slated to return in 2031). The College Football Playoff National Championship was held here in 2018 and returned in 2025, making Atlanta the first city to host it twice. The city’s appeal to event organizers comes down to a few key factors, says Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council, which serves as a recruiter and organizer for major national and international sporting events. First is accessibility. Atlanta’s airport puts ATL within a two-hour flight of 80 percent of the U.S. population. Once people arrive, says Corso, “whether it’s for a one-day game or 30-plus days for the World Cup, you’ve got a fan-friendly experience, both inside and outside the venues.” Fans and media benefit from a reliable transit system in MARTA, which connects the airport directly to downtown. Centennial Olympic Park, a 22-acre greenspace that was built as a public focal point for the Games, has become a popular hub. A quick stroll through the park brings visitors to the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the College Football Hall of Fame. Less than a mile away looms Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a dramatic venue capable of hosting crowds of more than 70,000. Designed to attract large-scale events, it replaced the Georgia Dome in 2017 with modern infrastructure, flexible configurations, and the capacity to meet the requirements of organizations like FIFA and the NFL. “When we decided to pursue building [Mercedes-Benz Stadium], part of the reason was so Atlanta could build off a legacy that started with the Olympics,” says Rich McKay, CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment. “It was built for the Super Bowl. It was built for the College Football National Championship.” But perhaps the real key to Atlanta’s success, McKay says, has been behind-the-scenes collaboration. City and state officials, public-safety agencies, venue authorities, and private companies including Cox Enterprises, Georgia-Pacific, The Home Depot, NAPA, and Southern Company, among many others, have consistently worked together to secure and deliver major events. This cooperative model is what helped convince Olympic organizers to award the Games to Atlanta, and it has become one of the city’s core strengths. A Growing Culinary Powerhouse In the 1990s, Atlanta was home to several exceptional restaurants: South City Kitchen, Pano’s Paul’s, Bacchanalia, and the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead (helmed by executive chef Günter Seeger). But the city lacked a national culinary reputation. Today, that’s all changed. Günter Seeger was the city’s first James Beard winner for Best Chef: Southeast in 1996, and since then, eight more local chefs have taken the award home—most recently Terry Koval of Decatur’s The Deer and The Dove. Diversity, driven by Atlanta’s airport and immigrant communities, has deepened the city’s food culture. Buford Highway alone is home to over 100 global restaurants, including eight MICHELIN-recommended/Bib Gourmand standouts, such as Kamayan ATL and LanZhou Ramen. Speaking of MICHELIN, when the heralded guide arrived in Atlanta in 2023, it capped off nearly 30 years of growing acclaim for the city’s chefs. Restaurants like Atlas, Bacchanalia, Hayakawa, and Lazy Betty have now earned stars from the MICHELIN Guide for their outstanding cuisine. Atlanta has hosted the Super Bowl three times (including in 2019, pictured here) and is slated to welcome it again in 2028Courtesy of Atlanta Host Committee The World Returns to Atlanta In 2026, Atlanta will join Los Angeles as one of only two American cities to have hosted both the Summer Olympics and FIFA World Cup. When FIFA selected host cities, says Corso, it took into account a number of factors: stadium design, transportation, hotel density, media accommodations, and overall infrastructure. Atlanta checked every box. Mercedes-Benz Stadium was evaluated by FIFA officials during construction to ensure it could meet the requirements of international play. Its central location, flanked by thousands of hotel rooms, means visitors and media can easily access fan experiences, concerts, and more. The city’s proven track record with large events also factored into the decision. Over the last 30 years, Atlanta has become a dependable host for high-profile championships and also for the complex operations around them, including fan festivals, media setups, and security coordination. “We set out to put on a high-quality Olympics, and now we put on a high-quality everything,” Robinson says. “That’s the legacy of the Games.” The Cultural Legacy of the Games During the 1996 Olympics, visitors encountered more than just sporting events. The Cultural Olympiad brought more than 200 arts programs to Atlanta, including Rings: Five Passions in World Art at the High Museum of Art. The exhibit included pieces from world-renowned institutions like the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Uffizi Gallery, and helped place the High—and Atlanta—on the global cultural map. In 2005, the Renzo Piano–designed expansion of the Woodruff Arts Center campus (which includes the High, the Alliance Theatre, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) created the country’s third-largest arts center and helped anchor Midtown as a true arts district. The growth wasn’t confined to marquee institutions. Near the Krog Street tunnel, walls became canvases for muralists. Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside Trail doubles as an outdoor gallery, part of the city’s expanding street-art movement. In artsy neighborhoods like Castleberry Hill, galleries and studios draw collectors from around the Southeast. Atlanta’s film scene has also boomed as more and more Hollywood productions moved into town. Atlanta Film Festival, nearing its 50th year, has become an important stop on the indie circuit, while events like BronzeLens and Atlanta Jewish Film Festival have emerged as key celebrations. Atlanta is the first city to host the College Football Playoff National Championship twice, including in 2025Courtesy of Atlanta Host Committee A New Vision for Downtown In the months leading up to FIFA World Cup 2026, the city has hosted other big events: College Football Playoff National Championship, MLB All-Star Game, and NCAA Men’s Basketball Southeast Regional. The Super Bowl is slated to return in 2028. Yet the next chapter for Atlanta isn’t just about what happens inside its sporting venues. Centennial Yards, a $5 billion redevelopment project built on 50 acres of underused land between Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Five Points, arguably represents the most significant change to downtown in generations. For decades, the area (formerly known as the Gulch) was seen as undevelopable, a complex mess of active rail lines, crumbling old sewers, and nonexistent power sources—essentially a void in the center of downtown. Now, it’s on track to become a walkable district of office space, housing, retail, and entertainment. As parts of the project come online in time for FIFA World Cup 2026, the goal is to create a seamless extension of the fan experience. “People are taking advantage, in a good way, of this excitement around the World Cup to upgrade the downtown experience,” Robinson says. A few blocks to the south, another wave of change is underway. South Downtown, once considered the “Heart of Atlanta” but more recently characterized by vacant buildings and fragmented development, is also undergoing reinvestment at a scale not seen in decades. New housing, revitalized storefronts, exciting culinary offerings, and historic preservation projects aim to usher in a renaissance in a part of the city that has struggled to keep pace with growth in surrounding neighborhoods like Midtown. The fact that South Downtown is just steps from Mercedes-Benz Stadium means that soccer fans will be able to experience this historic neighborhood, the city’s original hospitality district, in a way not seen in nearly a century, says Jon Birdsong, CEO of SoDo Atlanta, the holding company that owns 57 historic buildings spread across 10 city blocks. “The World Cup is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to, as Jeezy eloquently states, ‘put on for our city,’” he says. Thirty years after hosting the Games, as Atlanta prepares to welcome the world again, the biggest win may be creating a downtown whose vibrancy remains long after the tournament ends. 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