ATLANTA — As Atlanta enjoys the spotlight during the FIFA World Cup, local leaders and historians say the city’s rise as a global destination can be traced back to another major international event: the 1996 Olympic Games.
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Thirty years after Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics, business leaders point to the Games as a turning point that helped fuel economic growth, expand international travel and elevate the city’s profile around the world.
One of the most visible examples is the continued growth of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“When you look back to 1996, we had around 57 international direct flights. And today we have close to 90,” said Metro Atlanta Chamber President and CEO Katie Kirkpatrick.
Airport expansions before and after the Olympics helped support both international and domestic travel, making Atlanta more accessible to businesses and visitors alike.
“What we love to tell companies when they’re looking to expand or locate here is that you can reach 80% of the United States in a two-hour direct flight. Which is amazing. It’s an amazing accomplishment, but it also makes it easy for business,” Kirkpatrick said.
The numbers tell a similar story.
Since the 1996 Olympics, metro Atlanta has added 2.8 million residents, 1.2 million jobs and has seen its economy double in size.
Kirkpatrick said the Olympics helped introduce Atlanta to a global audience.
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“Well, it set us on a global stage. The global spotlight was on Atlanta for two and a half weeks, right? So, everything was broadcasting from Atlanta. We had not only visitors, but businesses come and visit during that time,” she said.
Sheffield Hale, president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center, said the Games also brought lasting infrastructure improvements.
“It was a huge injection of infrastructure. And you saw the street lights along Peachtree that happened; people forget that was leading up to the Olympics, you know, where they reached out of streetscapes, buried power lines, and it’s all continued,” Hale said.
Another lasting legacy is Centennial Olympic Park.
The 21-acre park was the largest urban greenspace created in the United States in 25 years at the time of its opening. In the decades since, it has helped spur the development of a major tourism and entertainment district in downtown Atlanta.
Hale said the region’s growth since 1996 has been remarkable.
“If you think about Atlanta and its size, we’ve grown more since the Olympics in the metro area than the city of Charlotte is in metro areas today,” he said.
Leaders say the Olympics also helped establish Atlanta as a destination for future marquee sporting events, including the FIFA World Cup.
“Sports is a great unifier. It’s a great way for someone to come and visit our community, see the great hospitality, to learn more about what we have to offer from a live-work-play perspective,” Kirkpatrick said.
Looking ahead, she hopes the World Cup will have a similar long-term impact.
“When we think about the next 30 years following a World Cup, which was another global event reminding the world that Atlanta is here, hopefully we see the same time of growth numbers ahead.”
Atlanta was already growing before it hosted the Olympics, but the Games accelerated that momentum. Today, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, metro Atlanta is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the country.
Of the 28 competition venues used during the 1996 Olympics, 22 remain in use today — a lasting reminder of an event that continues to shape the city three decades later.
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