Atlanta United: Inside the Golden Spike pre-game tradition | OneFootball

By J. Sam Jones

EDITOR'S NOTE: In celebration of Major League Soccer's 30th season, MLSsoccer.com is exploring untold stories about all 30 clubs. "30 Clubs, 30 Stories" will be unveiled throughout 2025.

Atlanta wasn’t always Atlanta.

Atlanta was “Marthasville,” and before that Atlanta was “Thrasherville,” and before that Atlanta was “Terminus.” Or, in other words, “the end of the line.” Before becoming the music, business, transportation, soccer and everything capital of the South, Atlanta existed solely to be the final stop for a railroad line. Fast forward roughly 189 years and there’s now an intersection between the genesis of Terminus, Atlanta United, Big Boi, T-Pain and Ludacris.

Before every Atlanta United game that’s ever happened, fans, players and celebrities have taken their shot at “The Golden Spike.” It’s a comically large railroad spike that takes multiple people to haul around. And it’s also an essential part of the matchday experience designed to connect with the city’s past while linking a city’s culture and fanbase. And it's equal parts gimmick and key piece of the Atlanta United puzzle.

How it starts

A matchday in the life of a Golden Spike begins outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the most SEC-esque tradition in the sport. About an hour and a half before the opening whistle, Atlanta United players hop off a bus outside the stadium and walk through a crowd of fans giving out high fives and autographs. Once they’re done signing posters and programs, they sign the Spike waiting for them at the end of the line. It’s a short parade that would be just as at home at an Auburn football game.

Now, that likely brings up a couple of questions. First: Yes, the club absolutely lifted the pregame player walk from college football. Georgia Tech and Georgia both have their versions, and you can imagine which gameday experiences the club examined before starting their own. Second: Yes, it is a bit late for professional athletes to arrive at the stadium.

Look, this is where you jump ahead a paragraph or two if you’re an Atlanta United fan reading this and don’t want to know what goes on behind the curtain. We’re not here to ruin the magic. However, the players are definitely not arriving at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the first time that day when they get off the bus. They’ve been there, grabbing a pregame meal and tactics talk. When that’s done, they head to the bus, and the bus goes to somewhere in downtown Atlanta before returning to the front of the stadium where fans and the Spike are waiting.

Uniquely Atlanta

It sounds weird because it’s weird. But it works.

“Yeah, you know, I think the initial reaction was, ‘Wait... what?” former Atlanta United center back and captain Michael Parkhurst told MLSsoccer.com. “I think that in the very beginning, of course, with anything, it's kind of like, ‘Wow, this is an annoyance,’ and, ‘This is crazy,’ and, ‘What the heck?’ But I think that pretty quickly you realize ‘why.’ Because so many fans are out there. It's nuts…

“I think we have to do our part to help them bring that energy, and some of that is going out of our way to make sure that they feel seen. And so, yeah, I think that's all part of it. And now that it's ingrained, and this is just what it is and this is what happens. There's no more complaining from anyone, for sure.”

Into Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Once the players pass by, the fans get their own chance to sign the Spike. From there, the Spike and its fresh coat of Sharpie are carried into the stadium like a pharaoh by a select group of supporters. That group changes each match, but the carriers are selected for the honor by the Atlanta United supporters’ groups.

When the time comes, those SG members throw the Spike on their shoulders and walk it down the steps of the supporters’ section. For some, that includes attempting to simultaneously drain a cup of beer. Regardless of whether they make it to the bottom of that cup or not, they pass the Spike off to its final resting place for the day once they reach the bottom of the stairs.

Again, there’s nothing standard here. But it works.

“I love how much honor and reverence kind of surrounds it,” Spike carrier, Footie Mob member and host of the Five Takes On The Five Stripes podcast, Cat Stansbury-Clark, said. "It's not something that's just kind of thrown together at the last second. It’s people that are chosen for a reason, but at the same time, it's a whole theatrical thing. Because it matters.”

Let the game begin

When the Spike reaches the end of its line, anyone from Ric Flair to Kelley O'Hara to Dominique Wilkins might be waiting for it. At each game, someone notable is there with a sledgehammer, set to slam the spike into its final resting place in front of the Supporters' Section. They give it three taps, the Spike drops into place, a bunch of pyro goes off uncomfortably close to the platform and the match can officially begin.

Sometimes, they even let former Atlanta United players do the honors.

“The energy when you're in the area there with the fans, it's pretty crazy,” Parkhurst said. “There's a real cool experience going on that us players just never really get to have the opportunity to see and experience.

"There's a whole process from tailgate to entering the stadium to the Spike. And, you know, I can understand why there's so much energy once the game starts from the fans, because it's building the whole time.”

And after the final whistle, a smaller Golden Spike is awarded to a player as voted on by the fans. Because why not carry the tradition forward beyond the 90?

It works because the fans have bought in. It works because it’s a connector between those fans and the players. It works because it unifies the club and the culture that defines Atlanta.

“If you grew up here, you understand the significance of the Spike,” Stansbury-Clark said. “And I think that everybody that's been involved with this team since the beginning understands the significance of the Spike. And I just was like, ‘Who else has that?’ And maybe some teams do, but it's just so uniquely Atlanta.

"I couldn't have thought of anything better as a physical thing that could represent the city.”