Portal:Georgia (U.S. state)/Selected picture/21
![A scrimmage at Falcons training camp](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Atlanta_Falcons_training_camp_scrimmage%2C_July_2016_4d.jpg/250px-Atlanta_Falcons_training_camp_scrimmage%2C_July_2016_4d.jpg)
Credit: Thomson200
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined the NFL in 1965 as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a franchise to keep him from joining the rival American Football League (AFL). The Falcons' current home field is Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened in time for the 2017 season; the team's headquarters and practice facilities are located at a 50-acre site in Flowery Branch, Georgia.