In total, they anticipate hosting each year 40 to 50 big events and an additional 100 to 200 small events in the neighboring park that will be built where the Georgia Dome currently resides. GPB intern Eva Rothenberg contributed to this article. Falcons owner Arthur Blank spoke with reporters during a 10-minute teleconference from the Super Bowl. [Thats] something that I talk about in the book, which most people are not aware of. Good Company is billed as a visionary road-map for creating successful businesses. His daughter Dena is the executive director of the Kendeda Fund, a left-of-center private foundation founded by her mother, Diana Blank. But I know where his heart is and his heart is really in a good place. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Arthur%2BBlank&contributor_employer=The%2BArthur&two_year_transaction_period=2016&contributor_state=GA, https://www.ajc.com/news/local/molly-blank-strong-widow-grew-successful-business-sons/JMYrzmcGsGc4nXD58rqltJ/, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197614, https://corporate.homedepot.com/sites/default/themes/thd/images/timeline/History-Of-The-Home-Depot.pdf, https://www.forbes.com/profile/arthur-blank/?sh=ae7b330749c3, https://www.atlantafalcons.com/team/front-office-roster/arthur-blank, https://blankfoundation.org/trustee/arthur-m-blank/, https://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/statement-from-arthur-blank-on-georgia-voting-rights, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/11/companies-voting-bills-states/, https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/arthur-blank-wife-angela-are-getting-a-divorce/897352464/, https://saportareport.com/a-longtime-anonymous-donor-reveals-her-identity/sections/abcarticles/maria_saporta/, https://blankfoundation.org/trustee/dena-kimball/, https://blankfoundation.org/trustee/kenny-blank/. This must happen more than every four years, because theres no offseason for democracy. Shrinking from conflict over something as valid, real and life-protecting as a vaccine is not what Id call, manly, brave, courageous or patriotic. But he did. I look at my six children, Batch 1, Batch 2, and, you know, they go from age 19 to age 52, if I have it right. Today, Blank is the Chairman of AMB Group LLC, parent company of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. So in this case, we were coming back from a game after the team had played in St. Louis against the old St. Louis Rams theyre now in L.A. and instead of riding in the front of the plane with the coaches and managers, I sat in the back with the players. "Obviously, it's a tragic time in the history of the. However, peaceful protests really go back and look at the history of our country back to the Boston Tea Party. So, then we opened up The Home Depot. It's a beautiful thing. We don't have any fans in our building, and this is what we plan on doing: We're going to, you know, promote season tickets for 100 bucks or $10 a ticket. And I remember waiting for, you know, probably two minutes. And they've worked collectively for the United States, for everybody in this country, 330 million people. How do I do my part in it? American professional sports owners have contributed nearly $47 million in federal elections since 2015, according to research by ESPN in partnership with FiveThirtyEight, including $10 million. Citizens and municipalities have for far too long believed these baseless claims, paid for the stadium, and watched them lie dormant during the offseason as the new businesses never came. His faith is very strong. But its the NFL itself that should be held to greater account and responsibility than it ever is. His professional team Atlanta United FC brought professional soccer to Atlanta beginning in 2017. I want you guys to come up with real solutions. The firing in 1978 was a political situation primarily between my partner Bernie [Marcus] and a gentleman, that has passed away now, who was his boss. Friday on Political Rewind: Mary Rodgers grew up among some of Broadway's biggest names, from Sondheim to Bernstein. The portfolio includes nearly $10 million in grants to 12 nonprofits that represent a diverse set of organizations with a strong presence in Georgia and the Southeast. << stream Open, honest dialogue is needed on a much greater scale. With Enemies Like Scott Jensen, Who Needs Friends? It starts with respect. So I'm happy to see that, you know, he came back to Atlanta and spent time here. The family foundation has already invested over $20 million into the surrounding community. You're going to get a lot of your fellow owners really pissed. Mercedes-Benz Stadium will also be home to Atlantas MLS team, Atlanta United FC. And so from there, since the 2001- 2002 season, we've only had three games that were not sold out during the season. And he should know. I love CNN, I love Cartoon Network. That Vote for Secretary of State? I, like almost everyone else, had already started celebrating at halftime. And the great political leaders in the past, they were civil and they were good listeners. my patience level probably is not the level it would have to be to sustain myself in this political atmosphere today. Fernandez says that they intend to use the stadium as an anchoring institution, and that the number one thing people in the community said they wanted are jobs. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! The Falcons were the first pro football team in the South, founded during the civil rights era in 1965. ATLANTA - Atlanta Falcons Owner Arthur Blank released a statement on Saturday following President Donald Trump's comments on Friday about the NFL. I still remember this as if it was yesterday. We Present You Trumps Deposition, More or Less Verbatim. Its appalling how heavily-to-tightly-managed entities, especially those controlled by a small cluster of well-heeled egos turn into shuddering eunuchs at the thought of riling just an ugly faction of its consumer base. The Gruden e-mails were leaked from a (way too) long-running investigation of the toxic (i.e. The pair always strove to create a work environment that put people before politics, said Blank. And in fact, one of her famous expressions was: You do the right things for the right reasons and live with the consequences of them. And I'm trying to build that into my life as well. Hopefully we'll get back in the playoffs, but not as well as the first three years. They put my mother, my brother and I in the living room with one of them and the other was searching the house, looking for cash that wasn't there. Now it's ranked like seventh. And then he came up to my suite afterward and it was like 10, 15 minutes later, his face was just full of tears and he said that he was so moved by it. A Member of the Blank Family of Businesses. 8 . Soccer fans don't want to feel like they go into a stadium and they're a second-class citizen citizen. So the answer would be yes. Please, please stop this violence!! Now, the last game we had in the Georgia Dome before we moved to Mercedes Benz Stadium in August of 2017, wewere honoring all of our ring of honor members and he was one of them. You know, he uses the phrase community of chaos, that we move away from chaos and towards community and community in a very broad sense, community with each other. A Handful of Things I Could Not Care Less About, Matt Birk: Rape Victims Are Playing the Rape Card?, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. So I think that part of that comes out of really being a good listener and responding to what you're hearing and trying to find a way to make things work for the benefit of everybody collaboratively. Scott Jensens Dramatic Fall Shows Ads Still Matter. Despite being widowed at a young age, his mother managed the familys mail-order pharmaceutical business and sold it to a large retail conglomerate. So, I think the great political leaders and the great spiritual leaders, in my view, have always, always opened up their arms and included everybody. It is in effect protecting the teams owner, a guy regularly reviled by sportswriters, players and fans as a (very wealthy) toxic idiot. I stayed in touch with him to some degree when he was in prison. All those 25,000 tickets were gone. And they love the camaraderie. Student Loan Forgiveness and The Ghost of John Kline, (Who?). The guest. And if I stop talking now for two minutes, you realize just how long two minutes is. By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. I mean, people were throwing tea off those boats because they were protesting, you know. It's hard to believe. They were trying to indicate that what the military had fought for these rights, the civil rights, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc. /Type /ExtGState The perceived linebetween politics and sports further blurred when Major League Baseball's union chief said players are ready to discuss moving the 2021 MLB All-Star Game out of Truist Park. The views expressed here are the authors' alone, not necessarily the views of their clients, employers or families. But, you know, I needed to change my view on what I could give back and how it could be connected to other people.. He notes pervasive cynicism about corporate leaders and perceptions that the drive for profit comes at the expense of public good. !, Do not fall for this foolishness!!! Weve never won a Super Bowl, and this years loss in Super Bowl LI was especially hard to take. You need to figure out something else to do for the rest of your life. And after a while, he said, Would you please shut up? And she never did. /BitsPerComponent 8 And being a good listener, it's an art form that we all can possess. Two Gruden compadres, ex-Gophers star and former NFL coach Tony Dungy and his ESPN partner Mike Tirico, both black, are in a bad spot for defending Gruden about his michellin [sic] tires description of another black guys lips. But I would keep raising my hand. Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with businessman Arthur Blank about gun regulation and philanthropy. Now 78, he is largely beloved in Georgia as an entrepreneur, owner of two professional sports teams and a prolific philanthropist. Michael Vicks published letter, Atlanta, nearly made a whole city cry on the eve of the Super Bowl. Resistance to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Futile. In 1989, the company opened its 100th store. America has long struggled to deliver a fair and equitable democracy to all of its citizens. Arthur Blanks brother, Michael, and his father, Max, are photographed outside the OES Pharmacy family business, in 1940. The couple filed for divorce in 2013. %PDF-1.4 Lawlessness, vandalism and intentionally upending the peace with any form of violence has never been productive and is not the answer. In that way, I don't think my personality, probably, or my patience level probably is not the level it would have to be to sustain myself in this political atmosphere today. Arthur Blank is worried that capitalism is getting a bad rap. You can change your choices at any time by clicking on the 'Privacy dashboard' links on our sites and apps. He just opened the door. Seventy-threethousand stood up and clapped, gave him a great hand. Blank, who is worth about $6.2 billion, per Forbes, is one of the higher donors among Biden's billionaire backers, who outnumber Trump's at 134 to 101, although more of Biden's backers have given the $2,800 personal maximum. So it was good. Peaceful protests of the past have led to new ways forward. About Arthur Blank Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus cofounded Home Depot in 1978 after being fired from their jobs at a regional hardware store. And I love him. We had the option of going to a variety of companies, doing a variety of things in a traditional sense of management leadership. They survived. Their siblings, their families, you know, may have gone to battle and wore a variety of uniforms for our country over many, many years. They said it would take an act of courage on your part to go out on the field and and to be recognized. And, you know, people stood up! Looting is NOT THE ANSWER!!!! The Number of White Teachers About to Get Fired is Exactly Zero. "It's not a red issue or a blue issue, it's about how you treat people, whether it be guests, fans, customers, associates, or shareholders in the case with HD," said Blank, whose Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has granted over $800 million to help underserved people across the nation. endobj "His approach obviously is different. If you sit in your homes instead of burning your home to the ground, you will have time to properly plot, plan, strategize and organize and mobilize in effective ways., Two of the most effective ways is first taking your butt to the computer and making sure you fill out your census so that people know who you are and where you are. "People are coming from different places, which is okay, but it's not okay when they're disrespectful; it's not okay when they're not kind. "This notion of divisiveness has become, in my humble opinion, maybe, post-Civil War, probably one of the most stressful times I've ever seen in our country," he said. Stop making people feel so fearful. At the end of the day, you can have differences of opinion, which is a great thing to have, and different approaches, which is a great thing to have. /Subtype /Image Yet the team continues to unite Atlantans during the ups and downs. /CreationDate (D:20210314125741+02'00') So we designed our stadium to accommodate not just for the Atlanta Falcons and National Football League football American football but soccer as well. Well, I shouldn't say I'm not. When GALEO was established, Georgias Latino community was not well represented, nor was it a viable electoral force; today, there are over 385,000 registered Latino voters in the state. The public discourse on these and other issues is too divisive, too political. Home Depot co-founders pictured in 1979, a year after the first store opened. The league has recently been running in-game PSAs pushing cancer and mental health awareness screenings, etc. It's the fans. Low Expectations and Dark Hopes for the New Year, Minnesotas Wealthiest Social Security Beneficiaries Shouldnt Be First in Line for Help, Time to Limit HOAs Solar Panel Policing Powers, Pop Quiz: How Many People Actually Know Whats Going On?. The statement came about five days after Gov. I had another NFL player, while [Vick] was in prison, come visit me and say I came from exactly the same neighborhood, but it was in a part of Pittsburgh. So sadly, Michael was raised in an environment where that was kind of normal behavior, if you will. When I left [Home Depot] in 2001, [it] was the second largest retailer in the world, second only to Wal-Mart. The Atlanta media thrashed Arthur Smith, Terry Fontenot, and Arthur Blank about their interest level sometime after the news broke. They all live life with purpose. However, many Americans are still being denied access to their vote and their ability to fully participate in our democracy. Another Home. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. I'm not sure how they're going to receive you. The trouble is that the NFL is not coming clean on that investigation. If executed improperly, this stadium could continue a long line of broken promises for this blighted community. But that was typical of my mother. I know you see my partner, Bernie, on Fox News very often. Then I would not be bashful about asking questions. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Also watchRISING UP: A Westside Story,a documentary film by David Lewis Productions that gives viewers a detailed look into the ideation, construction, and impact of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the city of Atlanta. Georgia Public Radio GPTV, a 2019 Report from the EJI documents more than 4440 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. between 1877 and 1950], National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Political Rewind: Theater critic Jesse Green remembers Mary Rodgers in 'Shy', Longtime nature writer Janisse Ray delivers gripping debut novel, At new season kickoff, Atlanta United looks for fresh start on the field. One of the robbers tied me up in the bathroom, the bathtub, and I said a few things to him, which, at 10 years old, I don't think my mother even knew I knew those words. To many Atlantans, myself included, leaving Turner Field was symbolic of the white flight that has defined the city since the 1960s. And it's all connected not only to associates, but to the communities in which we live and operate. On Thursday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank's foundation donated a five-year, $17 million grant to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. . "I know what he cares about and he cares about a lot of the same things that I care about.". Though the 78-year-old who's now the owner of the Atlanta Falcons NFL team was aware of their political differences, he said it never had any bearing on their shared values. ATLANTA - Falcons team owner Arthur Blank has tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the team's final game of the regular season. That was in 1979. Over the next two years (2021-2023), we will create an inclusive relationship with and among these grantees to share ideas, best practices, lessons and challenges. After stepping down as CEO of Home Depot in the early 2000s, Blank's interests centered on a variety of Atlanta-based sports franchises and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, a private foundation that has awarded over $560 million. Big Game by New York Times Magazine writer Mark Leibovich, BLM Has Achieved Much More Than Its Critics. I mean, it doesn't make a difference how old you are. Blank told Business Insider that despite their differences, running a company is "not a red issue or a blue issue" and is instead about sharing the same values. Virginia Prescott is theGracie Award-winning host of On Second Thought for Georgia Public Broadcasting. . If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'. I went to a small business school outside of Boston called Babson College I would always sit in the front because I always wanted to pay attention and learn. And so he's used that time since he got out of prison and giving back to community, speaking to young people. Arthur is committed to changing the narrative around sports stadiums, said Frank Fernandez, the VP of Community Development at The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, to The Daily Beast. "So, you know, I love him. Thats great. But go ahead and do it, if that's what you want. So we did it. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images), WSOC TV facebook feed(Opens a new window), >> Go home. A company where we already know from law suits the teams executives treated its cheerleaders like Vegas escorts and, yup, traded nudie pictures of them changing outfits. /Type /XObject 16 Blanks son, Kenny Blank, also sits on the foundations board and is the executive director of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Bernie has great values and Bernie cares deeply not only about our faith, but about giving back. Stop feeding fear and anger every day. And thats despite our recent record, which hasn't been, you know, one I'm particularly proud of, but we'll get better. Like many other enormous corporations the NFL, selling a slick, bristling mix of testosterone and patriotism, ducks away from anything with a whiff of political conflict. Like all stories meant to inspire, he takes some knocks. The system has worked well for the multi-billionaire and co-founder of The Home Depot. %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz Blank told Business Insider that despite their political differences, their different leanings never got in the way of their ability to work together as partners or as friends. w !1AQaq"2B #3Rbr Were usually very happy to talk, very happy to share our opinions and what have you I have enough humility to understand that the people were serving know better. /Creator ( w k h t m l t o p d f 0 . So we spent six months maybe talking to fans, or people that were not fans, but were, you know, living in the Atlanta area at that time, and we found out that there were four or five things we had to fix. One of the beauties is that when you come to the stadium, it feels like it's the United Nations. Prior to the construction of the Georgia Dome they played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium with the Atlanta Braves, and you could see the spot where Hank Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth in home runs. If you go to a Home Depot shareholders meeting, they start out every single meeting for 42 years now with this value wheel that we developed. Their frustration is real, and it must be acknowledged and addressed. Stay up to date with what you want to know. So, we had great confidence in our own abilities. "I think one of the things that is wrong with America today that we can work on and become better at is that we need to become better listeners to each other and we need to be better about understanding where people are coming from," Blank said. I said, Look, I'm going to be a new owner, tell me what I can do to help. But my mother would say to me, You know, what you have to say is important. And if all goes to plan, its also going to help a depressed community thats heard big talk before. All of which is, yknow, really classy stuff. We sit down with New York Times theater critic Jesse Green to discuss Rodgers' autobiography, Shy. But really, in my view, it's mostly that talking to young people about, you know, here's somebody who's been there, done it, gotten on T-shirts, lived it, and somebody whose name they respect or the least they know of, I should say, in most cases. So thats Gruden. 10, Following proposed changes to Georgia voting laws in early 2021, Blank released a statement saying, We should be working to make voting easier, not harder for every eligible citizen, and that his businesses and family foundation will support efforts that advance voting access for the citizens of Georgia and across the nation. 11 Blank also participated in an online call with over 100 corporate executives to discuss taking action following changes to state voting laws including the possibility of delaying investments in states that pass allegedly restrictive voting laws. Dueling Visions for Minnesota: Scandinavia or South Dakota? /Length 7 0 R For the last two decades, sports have united this largely racially divided city, and partially due to the actions of the Hawks and the Braves, the Falcons could ill-afford to have a stadium plan that was not only racially inclusive, but also worked to incorporate the surrounding community. I mean, you know, all those things. Were trying to do the exact opposite of that.. Theres a revelation of Blank stumbling dazedly into a parking lot after being abruptly forced out of Home Depot in 2001, and his devastation after the Falcons epic 2017 loss in the Super Bowl.
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