On January 4, the NPSL announced that the Atlanta Silverbacks had rebranded as Atlanta SC. After years of conflict with Boris Jerkunica, the owner of Silverbacks Park, Phoday Dolleh decided that rebranding and playing games elsewhere was the best option for the club going forward.
While the club is expected the retain Head Coach Roberto Neves, and the majority of last season's roster; the name, the logo, and the colors have all changed. The new logo, featuring a peach, and a soccer ball, has received mixed reviews at best on Social Media but Phoday said he decided to go with the peach because it is "a symbol of Georgia."
The Non-League America Twitter account tweeted a couple of extra details about why the rebrand came about and what it means for the club going forward. The series of tweets said the Silverbacks had the highest costs in the NPSL between licensing the name and playing at Silverbacks Park, and Boris wouldn't allow them to use the name at any other stadium. The thread also included confirmation that the Silverbacks as a team name is now dormant and that the title will only be applied to the park.
Many people suspected that a rebrand would happen eventually due to Boris' unwillingness to work with the team, but the news still came as a shock to Silverbacks fans. Westside 109 Tweeted after news broke that they were "still internally processing the big news" but were also "glad there's a team this year."
The venue the team will play in next year is still to be determined, but there has been speculation that it will most likely be somewhere in Alpharetta.