By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

The good news for Atlanta Falcons fans is they get a much hyped-game next season. The bad news is that it will be held in Berlin, Germany. As the data shows, Atlanta is among the bottom-five for most prime time games played, anywhere and at home, and that includes their Super Bowl run years. The team needs to change that statistic, and fast.

At a data science conference in Wisconsin, a fellow professor learned I was from a college not far from Atlanta. He told me about how his school, with a Falcons mascot, spent thousands of dollars developing a new logo for the athletic teams. Unfortunately, it spelled the team name “The Flacons.”

It has certainly felt that way during the Falcons franchise’s history. The data backs it up.

Born in the state of Wisconsin, I was infused with Packer DNA, so they’ve been at the top of my list. But since I came to Georgia in 2001, I’ve worked to move Atlanta up to a second favorite. My son has adopted them as his top team, and we’ve gone to games in the Georgia Dome and the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a great upgrade. Yet compared to the small town of Green Bay, Atlanta is eating their dust when it comes to playing in, and hosting, prime time games, according to J.R. Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Radcliffe reports that the Packers have played in 55 prime-time games. Despite being in the smallest sports market, they’ve also hosted the most prime-time games. Moreover, they not only play in these, but have a winning mark in them.

Atlanta is in the bottom five in both categories. They have only played in 23 of these contests, behind Tennessee, Houston and Arizona for fourth fewest on the list. When it comes to hosting these games, they are in a four-way tie for hosting the second fewest games on the list (9), with Indianapolis, Miami and Tennessee, trailing Cleveland and Carolina. Ouch!

Keep in mind that this era covers Atlanta making the Super Bowl in 2017.

I’m no sports expert, but Atlanta needs to make these events worthy of a prime-time event. They’ve drafted some highlight reel stars like Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and Michael Penix Jr. That final OT battle against the best Bryce Young NFL game for the Carolina Panthers (I attended it with my son) is the kind of exciting contest the NFL wants.

Here are several things the team should do: Take advantage of Atlanta’s natural attributes. First of all, study how Green Bay does tailgating, one of the reasons the team hasn’t failed to sell out a home game in decades. Southerners know how to do it, but need the space and venue for it. This place is a gold mine of rap, Country and hard rock artists. Get them to play pre-game parties outside so fans will want to make it a full day’s experience, and well-hyped for the big game.

Local sports talk often focuses on the failures of ownership, GM, coach, and quarterback (sounding a lot more like Philadelphia Eagles sportscasters before the team got good), while missing on a multitude of hidden stars on the team to hype just a little more. Jalon Walker wearing Julio Jones’ iconic #11 jersey is just the kind of small thing to get some buzz for the team, reminding locals and national NFL followers that Atlanta was pretty good not long ago.

That rivalry with the New Orleans Saints isn’t well known outside of both cities, the way Auburn-Alabama, Georgia-Florida, Michigan-Ohio State and FSU-Miami are. That needs to change as we could use a lot more in the way of a rivalry. And the up-and-coming Carolina Panthers need to be a second opponent to build an SEC-style clash with. Speaking of the SEC, the team is starting to draft more Georgia Bulldogs and SEC stars as well, which should help.

As we saw in “A League of Their Own,” good plays alone aren’t going to sell tickets. The Falcons need a little more in the way of hype plays: big sacks, spectacular catches, turnovers.

It’s worth noting that Green Bay wasn’t always the prime-time franchise. They had a top draft pick, taken fourth overall, who chose to play in the CFL, when I was a kid. But luring Reggie White, taking a chance on an exciting (often turnover-prone) Brett Favre, and making stars out of late-round wide receivers and defensive players became the Packer way. It can turn Flacons into Falcons, earning more prime-time games overall and at home.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.