U.S. Soccer opens first-ever permanent home in Fayette County

Zoom in: The new training ground for all 27 U.S. national teams features 13 natural grass, two turf and two sand pitches for beach soccer, plus a massive indoor turf facility that resembles an airplane hangar.

• More than 200,000 square feet of headquarters and high-performance space bring U.S. Soccer's leadership, coaching, scouting, referee development and national-team operations together for the first time.
• "The next generation of soccer players … will be able to walk into this facility and not just see what's possible, but imagine the legacy they will build within these walls," Oguchi Onyewu, the USSF's assistant sporting director and a former U.S. men's national team player, said.

The facility is designed for deaf, cerebral palsy and power wheelchair soccer national teams, with accessibility features built throughout the complex.

Catch up quick: Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank said he heard several years ago that the organization lacked a dedicated training space. "For a sporting team, having an office is not a home," he said. "It's like having a house with no kitchen."

• Soccer's potential to get young people outdoors and unite people sealed his commitment, Blank said. He contributed $50 million to build the roughly $250 million complex and Chick-fil-A chairman Dan Cathy donated the land.

"It's not just a facility," Blank said. "A facility is a facility. It's the heart and minds and spirit of young folks … and having the opportunity to live their dreams."

Context: A development boom is bubbling around the facility as dense woods give way to subdivisions and single-family homes. Trilith, a mixed-use community anchored to a film studio campus, is 10 minutes away.

The bottom line: The center now gives the USSF a dedicated place to develop talent and write history, much like England's St. George's Park and France's Clairefontaine have helped develop generations of national-team players.

What's next: Roughly 80 acres of the property are still undeveloped, and Blank said he wants officials to ask for more support to add buildings.