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Speaker 1: This is the business of sports where in the situation

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Speaker 1: that we haven't dealt with in modern times, pandemic here

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Speaker 1: has really accelerated the investments that we've been advocating for

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Speaker 1: for years. From a macro standpoint, I think our sport

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Speaker 1: industry is really forced to look at the business a

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Speaker 1: little bit differently in depth conversations with the leaders in

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Speaker 1: the sports industry. Who wants to be the sacrificial lambs

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Speaker 1: that shows up at the first big major sporting event,

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Speaker 1: were part of something much bigger than the sport right

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Speaker 1: now and the health and stay of our stakeholders that

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Speaker 1: works much important every moment. I think we're all from

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Speaker 1: the business respective thinking about the impact that the virus

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Speaker 1: is having a across the country against Bloomberg Business of

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Speaker 1: Sports from Bloomberg Radio. Well, I'm speaking with Arthur Blank,

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Speaker 1: of course, chairman, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta

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Speaker 1: United co founder of home Depot. He's got a new book,

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Speaker 1: It's called Good Company. Arthur really excited to talk to you,

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Speaker 1: and I will sort of confess to our audience as

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Speaker 1: I did to you before we started recording here from it. Alanna,

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Speaker 1: I'm a Falcons fan of late and Atlanta United fan

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Speaker 1: as well, longtime customer of Home Depot as well said,

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Speaker 1: this is a real treat for me. Thanks for spending

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Speaker 1: some time. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate all

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Speaker 1: that support as well. So writing a book. It's not easy.

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Speaker 1: Uh what made you do it? What made you do it? Now? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a really good question. I think, you know, having

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Speaker 1: lived through um, the you know, the uh the birth

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Speaker 1: of the Home Depot in the first twenty three years

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Speaker 1: and when I retired left in two thousand and one,

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Speaker 1: it was the largest second largest retail company in the world,

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Speaker 1: second only to Walmart. And uh, um, you know when

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Speaker 1: I got involved in these other businesses, Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United.

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Speaker 1: We've built this magnificent stadium that's probably one of the

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Speaker 1: finest sports facilities in the world today. We operate our

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Speaker 1: PGA Tour Superstares, the number one golf retail specialty store

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Speaker 1: and probably in the country, if not the world. And

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Speaker 1: we had these guest ranches in in Montana. Because our

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Speaker 1: foundation I'm using I'm naming all those things that you know,

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Speaker 1: we apply these same core values, these six core values

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Speaker 1: to running all of these businesses, and and the beauty

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Speaker 1: of these values is not only they still are the

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Speaker 1: foundation and the strength of the home depot, but I've

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Speaker 1: been able to translate all of those exactly as is

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Speaker 1: into all of these very diverse sets of businesses and

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Speaker 1: different geographies, fans, customers, guests, whatever the case may be, UM,

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Speaker 1: using the same principles, and they have been tremendously successful

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Speaker 1: in each of the industries. But not only successful in

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Speaker 1: terms of who we're serving, but all of the other

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Speaker 1: dimensions today that companies are looking at, and associates looking at,

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Speaker 1: and customers are looking at in terms of how do

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Speaker 1: you measure the success? So UM, you know, it's one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons to be the Business round Table, which

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Speaker 1: has been around for fifty years and two thousand and

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Speaker 1: nineteen redefine their version of success not just in terms

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Speaker 1: of profitability, but impact on the social its, communities, and

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Speaker 1: suppliers and and stakeholders of a variety of kinds. So

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Speaker 1: we've we've done that at HD, we did it since

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine, but we're doing that today in

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Speaker 1: all of our businesses. In this good company really talks

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Speaker 1: about those relationships, how do you build all those links

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Speaker 1: together and how how dependent they are on each other

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Speaker 1: for the you know, for the final form into the

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Speaker 1: final success. Well, that's incredibly interesting, and I'm glad you

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Speaker 1: went to where you did with the business roundtable because

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Speaker 1: that certainly is at the core of this and this

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Speaker 1: whole notion of stakeholders I think is especially interesting and

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Speaker 1: I think you would agree when it comes to owning

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Speaker 1: sports teams. And I do wonder what you've learned from

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Speaker 1: owning a football team owning two football teams. I guess

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Speaker 1: technically speaking, Um, that's different in terms of stakeholders, because

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Speaker 1: it is dynamic, maybe in a different way. Yes, it is.

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Speaker 1: I think you know. It was interesting, um, And we

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Speaker 1: talk about this in the book. Before I closed on

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons, I was in New York and I

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Speaker 1: was meeting with the commissioner and the the book the Pole

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Speaker 1: Tag Reboot and getting my new owner orientation, and he said,

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Speaker 1: you gonna be here tomorrow. We have one of our

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Speaker 1: relative the new owners here, Robert Kraft, who wants the

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Speaker 1: Patriots as you as you know, and very successful, you know,

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Speaker 1: family and business, and don't you just have breakfast with him?

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Speaker 1: And Robert said to me, he said, you needn't hear

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Speaker 1: the NFL is really different. Only the sports team is

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Speaker 1: really different, he said. You know, my in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: my humble opinion, He said, I would apply all the

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Speaker 1: same principles, all the same values to the Atlanta Falcons

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Speaker 1: and the NFL as you did at the home depot. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The only thing is gonna be different, Um is the

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Speaker 1: amount of media attention that shall get uh. So I

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Speaker 1: you know, I kind of winked at him and said, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're started out as nothing in nineteen seventy

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Speaker 1: nine or new of Stock and Stage Company, and you know, etcetera, etcetera,

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Speaker 1: and you know we have a big public following and

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Speaker 1: deal with the press all the time, he said. He

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Speaker 1: winked at me, like sometimes you'll do it a child.

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Speaker 1: They just will not understand, but a parent will say

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Speaker 1: to him and they'll say, well, you know, you'll get

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Speaker 1: it someday. And so that's kind of what Robin was

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Speaker 1: saying to me, Someday you'll get it. So I think

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Speaker 1: the media attention is very different. Um. I also think

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Speaker 1: you know, having been in the business now both of

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Speaker 1: those businesses you mentioned soccer in football, um, is that

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Speaker 1: you know the risk of injury is much greater. So

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Speaker 1: in business obviously, you know, if God forbid you got hurt,

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Speaker 1: you broke your leg doing something, now, you would still

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Speaker 1: come to work the next day and you still do

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Speaker 1: the same same podcast, same work that you're doing today. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, obviously in sports, when you have that kind

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Speaker 1: of injury or version of any injury, you really are affected.

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Speaker 1: And it's the wrong player. It can really affect the team.

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Speaker 1: It's always it's always the next man up. But often

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Speaker 1: the next man up is not the guy that was

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Speaker 1: at first because he's not as good as the next

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Speaker 1: man up. So, um, not as good as the first guy,

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Speaker 1: I should say. So, you know, I think that's different

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Speaker 1: other than that. Really, um, it really is the same

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Speaker 1: set of principles and and and the beauty is and

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Speaker 1: I've talked to craigman Air at HD about this in

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Speaker 1: Frank Lake, and you know who was the preceding CEO,

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Speaker 1: and of course myself and Bernie Bothfield verse Bernie Markers,

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Speaker 1: my co founder of HD. Both Field or Strong about

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Speaker 1: this is that you know, these core values are all

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Speaker 1: driven by behavior and relationships to other people of the

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Speaker 1: human beings. Um. And it really says if you do

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Speaker 1: the right things. From a behavioral standpoint, you will produce

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Speaker 1: the financial results, which you're important. They're not unimportant, they're

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Speaker 1: very important because you want to have a sustainable organization

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Speaker 1: that's giving the returns to that aspect of good company,

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Speaker 1: your shareholders, stakeholders, but along with the people that you're

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Speaker 1: serving annual socialists, as well as the communities that they're

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Speaker 1: operating in. So it's a it's a beautiful circle, um

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Speaker 1: kind of a circle of life in certain ways, uh

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Speaker 1: and it really um, it really brings out the very

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Speaker 1: best of all of us and brings out the sense

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Speaker 1: of uh of connecting to each other, and it really

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Speaker 1: a greater sense of community in neighborhood, which I think

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Speaker 1: is very very important today. Well, and I want to

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Speaker 1: talk about neighborhoods in the city of Atlanta, But but

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Speaker 1: I want to start if I can on and ki

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Speaker 1: off of something that that you just said around sort

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Speaker 1: of media attention and implicit in that as sort of

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Speaker 1: managing people, And towards the end of the book, you

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Speaker 1: talk about in a way that I've never seen before,

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Speaker 1: your relationship and the situation with Michael vick Um, and

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Speaker 1: I do wonder as you reflected on that and you

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Speaker 1: thought about it, and you lay out in in in

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Speaker 1: pretty good detail. Um, kind of your thoughts and feelings

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Speaker 1: about that, talk to me about sort of putting that

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Speaker 1: to paper and what you take away from that experience

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Speaker 1: with Michael Vick. Well, I think there are several things.

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Speaker 1: I mean number one, I mean, what you know, the

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Speaker 1: behavior that that Michael and and his friends and family

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Speaker 1: to some extent we're involved in. It is it's just

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's just a born and so

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Speaker 1: it's it's no, there's no there's no now, there's no excuse,

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Speaker 1: there's nothing you could say to ever to ever justify it. However,

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Speaker 1: you do try to understand it. You know, how would

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Speaker 1: you know why? Why is this prevalent? Not only with Michael,

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Speaker 1: but you know why is the prevalent in other areas

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Speaker 1: and this kind of thing? And you really come to

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Speaker 1: realize in in a different way. It's not unique, but

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Speaker 1: the different ways that you know, when people have brought

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Speaker 1: up in a certain environment, Um, that when they have

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Speaker 1: certain life experiences and they're not corrected at early ages

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Speaker 1: and their perspective is not brought to a sounder place

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Speaker 1: when they were younger, that they will continue to make

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Speaker 1: mistakes along those same lines. So in the case of Michael,

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Speaker 1: you know where he grew up in Newport News, Virginia

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Speaker 1: at that time, I mean police would drive by, you know,

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Speaker 1: dog fighting and things of that nature, not because they

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Speaker 1: didn't care about it, but they had issues of domestic violence,

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Speaker 1: They had homicides, they had all kinds of other things

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Speaker 1: that that most people would say would even you know,

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Speaker 1: be things that even need even greater attention or more

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Speaker 1: or more media attention. So he grew up in that environment.

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Speaker 1: And uh, and I think he was, you know, he

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Speaker 1: was taken advantagel. I think by by you know, some

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Speaker 1: young you know, some young friends of his over a

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Speaker 1: long period of time, which is not unusual when somebody

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Speaker 1: reaches the level of celebrity that he had um. But

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Speaker 1: in looking back, I mean, Michael realizes fully, not even

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Speaker 1: because of the year and a half he's spent in prison,

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Speaker 1: but because I think he looks back and realizes that

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Speaker 1: that was a horrible mistake mistakes over period of time.

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Speaker 1: He takes full responsibility for it. Uh. I think you know,

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Speaker 1: you you know, you scratched the skin of almost not

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Speaker 1: a human being. You're gonna find something, And I think

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Speaker 1: he realizes that that was you know, that was a

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Speaker 1: choice that he made, choices he made at that time

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Speaker 1: in his life that were extremely poor. And he's working

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Speaker 1: hard and has worked ought since he's been released from

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Speaker 1: prison to try to uh speak to young people primarily

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Speaker 1: but adults too, but primarily to young people about the

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Speaker 1: impact of better choices and uh. And I think it's important,

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Speaker 1: particularly for young people, when they hear from somebody who

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Speaker 1: has some stature and recognition, somebody that they can relate to,

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Speaker 1: like Michael in this case. Um, you know, here's the

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Speaker 1: guy was saying, Look, I made bad choices, and let

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Speaker 1: me tell you this is the impact of it. How

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Speaker 1: it affected my life financially, how it affected me and

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Speaker 1: by times a year and a half in prison, affected

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Speaker 1: my family, affected my friends, affected my career. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: so it's not just about dog fighting, it's about making

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Speaker 1: better choices. And you know, unfortunately today are young people.

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Speaker 1: You know that we all need to be reminded of that,

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Speaker 1: but particularly are young people today. Uh. And from a peer,

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Speaker 1: if you will, some version of a peer, I think

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Speaker 1: it becomes very powerful. So I'm proud of the word

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Speaker 1: that Michael has done since then. Um, you know, I

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Speaker 1: I think he's he's a different person than he was before.

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Speaker 1: Um and uh, I certainly wish wish him luck in

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Speaker 1: that regard and will contain the support him in that

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Speaker 1: regard and and to continue to make a difference in

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Speaker 1: lives of other people are speaking to now. And that

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Speaker 1: support obviously comes through in the way you write about

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Speaker 1: him and your relationship with him in more recent years,

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Speaker 1: and your willingness to to provide him a public stage.

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Speaker 1: It does make me wonder too about the responsibility you feel,

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Speaker 1: not just as an owner of a couple of very

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Speaker 1: prominent teams, but as an owner of a couple of

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Speaker 1: prominent teams in the city of Atlanta, and in the

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Speaker 1: city of Atlanta in the year when this country, I

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Speaker 1: don't have to tell you, is royaled by issues and

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Speaker 1: confronting racial injustice and systemic racism in a way that

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Speaker 1: we never have before. Tell me how, especially maybe as

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Speaker 1: you've been writing this book and going about your daily work,

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Speaker 1: how you're thinking about your role in that, Because it

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Speaker 1: does feel to me, and I say this as a

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Speaker 1: as an Atlanta, a former atlantin uh, it feels like

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Speaker 1: it there could be even more expectation and dare I

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Speaker 1: say even pressure, given where you are and and and

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Speaker 1: where you come from. Well, you know, Jason, I would,

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Speaker 1: I would say this. And you know, it's interesting. Our

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Speaker 1: president of our foundation is transitioning now. She's been the

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Speaker 1: head of the Foundation for Homo seventeen years, has done

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Speaker 1: incredible work. But you know she's ready to, you know,

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Speaker 1: to move on to a retirement face in the life,

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Speaker 1: for semi retirement facing life. But in any event, we're

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Speaker 1: talking to a number of very qualified people. And I

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Speaker 1: had a conversation with one the other day who was

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Speaker 1: well known nationally and uh and I was trying to

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Speaker 1: talk about the families, the mental framework and positioning, and

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Speaker 1: I said, you know, one of the things that you

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Speaker 1: consider this kind of opportunity is that this is a

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Speaker 1: family that that goes where the heat is the hottest. Um.

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Speaker 1: This is a family that will seek out the largest

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Speaker 1: platform to make the biggest difference on social issues, on

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Speaker 1: other issues that we can um not jumping to the

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Speaker 1: forefront necessarily for you know, just recognition, but we want

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Speaker 1: to be in the middle. We want to be as

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Speaker 1: close to the fire as we can be in terms

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Speaker 1: of dealing with these issues. And uh, Um, I want

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Speaker 1: to do it thoughtfully and want to do it based

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Speaker 1: on research find I want to do it, you know,

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Speaker 1: based on respect for everybody else's in the same circle

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Speaker 1: as we are. But UM, so I think that in

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Speaker 1: every every sense, Um, I feel strongly that way. I

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Speaker 1: think that's how our businesses operate, our foundation operates. And

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Speaker 1: really it goes back to you know, my parents in

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Speaker 1: many ways, who really you know, that's how they were,

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Speaker 1: even though they had didn't have a lot of financially

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Speaker 1: h they always or felt things that a matter of principle,

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Speaker 1: things are a matter of fairness, social fairness and social justice.

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Speaker 1: Those things needed to be paid attention to. And that

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Speaker 1: you know, you you worried less about who was in

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Speaker 1: the room, but more about you know, speaking out of

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Speaker 1: your heart, speaking out of your mind, speaking out of

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Speaker 1: your spirit, and and being and being truthful to everybody.

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Speaker 1: So you know, we've always been that way, UM. And

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Speaker 1: I think on these issues today in terms of social

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Speaker 1: justice and police accountability and and um you know, all

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Speaker 1: of the other issues that our country is struggling with

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Speaker 1: right now. Um. You know, whether through our foundation or

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Speaker 1: through our businesses, we want to be clear as to

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Speaker 1: where we stand. Um. So I think that's important for

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Speaker 1: all of our all of our stakeholders. Is important to

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Speaker 1: people we serve, fans, guest customers, it's important for our

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Speaker 1: associates who are the connection point between our vision for

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Speaker 1: these businesses and the actual living of the articulation of them,

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Speaker 1: UM and UH and all of our suppliers, just all

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Speaker 1: of our stakeholders. Right. Well, it's interesting to to hear

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Speaker 1: you say that, and I do wonder how you you're

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Speaker 1: thinking has evolved, especially of late as an NFL owner specifically,

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Speaker 1: And you've right in the book about you know, being

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Speaker 1: supportive of Colin Kaepernick and of players kneeling, you know,

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Speaker 1: when that became a thing a few years ago, and

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Speaker 1: when it really came to the four by virtue of

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Speaker 1: Colin Kaepernick initially, and then obviously we're at a hopefully

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Speaker 1: a different and more progressive moment. Now, how do you

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Speaker 1: feel that you as a team are doing, and maybe

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Speaker 1: more importantly, how the NFL is doing, maybe in meeting

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Speaker 1: this moment which feels different and it feels like the

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Speaker 1: tone is shifted. Is that fair to say you think

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Speaker 1: for the NFL? I would say that for sure. And

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Speaker 1: I think if you start out with you know with

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Speaker 1: the commissioner and his you know, his his recognition as

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Speaker 1: a difference between two thousand and sixteen when when Colin

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Speaker 1: started to neel in to seventeen, and you know he

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Speaker 1: had hundreds and hundreds of players responding to the President

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Speaker 1: Trump's you know, um comments about you know, about the

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Speaker 1: nature of the players. And no want to say to

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Speaker 1: say the words on the air, but I will say,

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Speaker 1: you have a very powerful anecdote about one of your

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Speaker 1: players in the book about that, and I won't spoil it,

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Speaker 1: but it's a very powerful in terms of responding. I

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Speaker 1: think I think that you know, the commissioner speaks for

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Speaker 1: the NFL, speaks for the owners, I think, and um,

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Speaker 1: when he now recognizes the uh, the importance of what

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Speaker 1: Colin had to say, UH, probably didn't get the amount

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Speaker 1: of support and amount of respect that it should have. UM.

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, certainly, I think the NFL

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Speaker 1: feels strongly, I think almost feel strongly buying large. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I would say, wait, much larger than maybe a few

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Speaker 1: minority owners that you know people should be protesting. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's the that's the American way. UM. You know, one

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Speaker 1: of my good friends passed away just recently John Lewis,

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Speaker 1: and you know, John's his slogan and the movie which

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Speaker 1: is just out and out in his life is called

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Speaker 1: good Trouble. I mean, I think that that's kind of

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Speaker 1: you know, I think there's places as times and places

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Speaker 1: for quote good good trouble. Now, good trouble does not

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Speaker 1: include leading the looting, rather does not include you know,

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Speaker 1: vandalism or any kind, does not include you know, closing

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Speaker 1: harm to other people. But it does include you know,

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Speaker 1: making sure that voices haven't heard and uh in the

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Speaker 1: form of whatever that may be. In some sort of

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Speaker 1: protests that's not violent, that expresses you know, views of

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Speaker 1: a group or person or organization. I think that's fine.

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Speaker 1: I think, I mean, that's what America has always done,

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Speaker 1: you know, since our birth. And that's a healthy thing.

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Speaker 1: What's not healthy is that when it gets when it

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Speaker 1: gets violent, and it turns into eluding and other things

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Speaker 1: of that nature, because that's not what protests is about.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's talk a little bit about soccer,

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Speaker 1: because I do feel like this has been a business

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Speaker 1: that really did use a not uh not technical business

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Speaker 1: or really took off. It took off in Atlanta in

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Speaker 1: a way that maybe some people, maybe you anticipated it,

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Speaker 1: it would uh talk about that that early success, because

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Speaker 1: I do wonder and I'm sure other people have asked

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Speaker 1: you this, other owners across leagues, what the sort of

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Speaker 1: magic was that seemed to happen with Atlanta United and

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Speaker 1: has happened. I think the magic was Again it goes

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Speaker 1: back to some of these key core values we talked

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Speaker 1: about in the book. We we have a tremendous amount

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Speaker 1: of respectful to sport, enough to where we hired, Um,

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Speaker 1: we hired the highest paid CEO in in Major League

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Speaker 1: Soccer at the time we hired. It mightn't know that,

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Speaker 1: but I knew he was going to be well paid.

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Speaker 1: But he was somebody that was incredibly talented. We hired

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Speaker 1: him three years before we had the first you know,

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Speaker 1: the first blow on the pitch. So we gave him

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Speaker 1: a chance to you know, study the market, understand George

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Speaker 1: or understand Atlanta, understand the soccer clubs there. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: understand totally MLS. He had played in Europe and United

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Speaker 1: States as well, and it was very familiar with MLS, etcetera.

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Speaker 1: But you know, to give him a chance to really,

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Speaker 1: you know, to build a staff the quality staff behind

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Speaker 1: himself along at work, along with himself, etcetera. And develop

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Speaker 1: the relationships at a club level, primarily with the soccer

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Speaker 1: community in a general sense to parents, the supporter, clubs, etcetera.

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Speaker 1: That we're here and because you know, soccer probably the

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Speaker 1: most sports, more than most of the most sports, the

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Speaker 1: fans definitely feel that sense of ownership um and they

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Speaker 1: truly truly do so, he and others spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of time in developing ideas about you know, the profile

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Speaker 1: of the team, the uniform of the team, uh slogans, um,

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Speaker 1: you know what the t pos would look like. All

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Speaker 1: of that came from our support group. So they really

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Speaker 1: felt the fans really felt that, you know, um, the

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Speaker 1: interest was there in soccer. It's a tremendous Atlanta has

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Speaker 1: always been a big soccer community. There's always been a

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Speaker 1: lot of youth soccer played in this town. So the

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Speaker 1: the harvest was there, the opportunity was there, um, And

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Speaker 1: it's always been a very diverse community and growing more

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Speaker 1: and more in terms of diversity, being a very international

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Speaker 1: city with the airport being where it is, so um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I I would say that, you know, the formula,

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Speaker 1: I think was right. I think we tapped into the

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Speaker 1: customer base, our fan base in this case, we can

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Speaker 1: listen and respond. We talked about that at length in

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Speaker 1: the book, how important that is, and that we have

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Speaker 1: humility and we understand the people that you know are

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Speaker 1: going to be in the stadium, they really know no

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Speaker 1: best if you will. We want to create that sense

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Speaker 1: that they're not just part of the process, but they

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Speaker 1: kind of own the process. We understand we've got responsibility,

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Speaker 1: that's not a free fall, but but we do want

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Speaker 1: to make sure that the fans feel like we're always

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Speaker 1: acting in their best interests as well. And I think

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Speaker 1: we've we've really done that. We paid attention to the

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Speaker 1: unique customs and unique requirements of soccer. So soccer fans

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Speaker 1: don't even want to feel there are other owners in

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Speaker 1: the mL US who also operate NFL teams. They don't

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Speaker 1: ever want to feel like their team is secondary to

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Speaker 1: an NFL team, even though in terms of revenue and profitability,

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Speaker 1: maybe they don't want to feel that way. So we

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Speaker 1: designed the stadium, which of course there's millions and millions

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Speaker 1: and millions of dollars in additional funding. Uh so it

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Speaker 1: became very soccer specific metal of the fee for standards.

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Speaker 1: We could we could host a fee for games of

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Speaker 1: the World Cup, which we would probably do in um

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Speaker 1: and uh and and fans appreciate that. And they walk

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Speaker 1: into the stadium on a soccer day, they feel like

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Speaker 1: this is their place and all of their customs and

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Speaker 1: traditions are being honored as well. Yeah, well, before I

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Speaker 1: let you go, I knew that we're averaging you know,

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Speaker 1: as you as you know, and maybe the listeners make

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Speaker 1: some may know, some may not. We're averaging fifty four

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Speaker 1: thousand fans per game and attendance will have up to

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Speaker 1: seventy thousand. It's it's it's fifty percent higher than the

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Speaker 1: next closest club in the league, and twice what the

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Speaker 1: averages in the league and of MLS has been around

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Speaker 1: for twenty five years. We now hold every single attendance

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Speaker 1: record of any of any mix of context that's been

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Speaker 1: in existence for the last twenty five years. It's a

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Speaker 1: credit to our organization. It's a bigger credit to our

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Speaker 1: fan base. Yeah, and uh, We're very appreciate and it

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Speaker 1: makes a huge difference of the players and the players

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Speaker 1: are on the pitch, uh, you know, they see and

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Speaker 1: feel that energy and they respond to it like we

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Speaker 1: all would have that kind of athletic situation. Absolutely. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know you mentioned and and before I let you

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Speaker 1: go or before you have to get onto your next thing,

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Speaker 1: I did want to ask you because you mentioned it

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Speaker 1: in the context of the of the soccer team. Uh, specifically,

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Speaker 1: the demographics of Atlanta are are fascinating, I think, and

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Speaker 1: and for many of us who have lived there and

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Speaker 1: who appreciate the city. You know, I and others have

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Speaker 1: often said, if you really want to understand America in

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Speaker 1: many ways, look to Atlanta in terms of the growth

431
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,880
Speaker 1: and the demographics, and you know all the opportunity and

432
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 1: and challenge candidly, you know, one of the things that

433
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,720
Speaker 1: you have had to do with that stadium is be

434
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 1: incredibly sensitive and and and conduct some negotiations around the

435
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 1: neighborhood and understand that the population of Atlanta maybe in

436
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 1: a more meaningful and complex way than than most would

437
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,640
Speaker 1: Talk to me a little bit if you can about

438
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,680
Speaker 1: navigating that and what you learn from that, because you

439
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,199
Speaker 1: write about it in the book. Yeah. Um, Well, as

440
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,440
Speaker 1: example would be, you know, there were two very old

441
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:34,000
Speaker 1: churches that were um within the then walking distance of

442
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: where the were one of the sites. Who are we

443
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 1: had several sites in downtown Atlanta that were connected to

444
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,200
Speaker 1: the Georgia Rural Congress Center, which is the second of

445
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,120
Speaker 1: the third largest Congress center I think in the Act

446
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,760
Speaker 1: States today. Um, and one was on the north and

447
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,840
Speaker 1: what was on the south, And our preference was the

448
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 1: one in the south because we were closer to the

449
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 1: public transportation. About thirty or five percent of our of

450
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,160
Speaker 1: our guests for whether it be soccer games, football games, concerts,

451
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 1: whatever may be, that come by public transportation, which is

452
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:03,960
Speaker 1: you know, you know, which is great in terms of

453
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: the planet Earth and trying to do the right thing

454
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 1: from that standpoint. Um. So when we talked to the churches,

455
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 1: they originally said, well, you know, these churches have been

456
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,120
Speaker 1: here a long time and frankly we've lost a lot

457
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 1: of our congregants. Um, we can't afford to stay here.

458
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: We'd like to, you know, consider building the new church

459
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: someplace close by that we can not only keep the

460
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: comregants we have, but attract you know, some new some

461
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 1: new comregants, etcetera. So you know, we said we'd be

462
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,639
Speaker 1: we'd be happy to be part of that process. And

463
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,200
Speaker 1: as long as it's considered to be a win for

464
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: you know, for the church as well. And um. And

465
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,199
Speaker 1: we had one church that was that they were they

466
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 1: were more than happy to do that. We paid him,

467
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 1: you know, actually above market. We told him we would. Um.

468
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:49,720
Speaker 1: We just don't want to be taking advantage of but

469
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 1: we knew it was going the money was going to

470
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,439
Speaker 1: a good place. We had a second church who you know,

471
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,400
Speaker 1: happened through negotiations, said well, I'm not sure we want

472
00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 1: to leave. It's you know, it's an old congregation, et

473
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: ceter etcetera. And I said to them, said to the

474
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 1: pastor with the church, I said you should stay there.

475
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: I said, we'll be we'll be happy. We'll go to

476
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: the north side. And uh, I said, there's no there's

477
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 1: no pressure. I mean, I really I don't want to.

478
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: I don't want to be part of any process where

479
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 1: we're asking, forcing, coercing, talking me into a church, making

480
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 1: the move, etcetera. Say, if you feel you're better suited

481
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: staying where you are in the older facilities that you have,

482
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 1: that's perfectly fine with me. I honor that, I understand it,

483
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 1: and I'll support that. Um. You know, after that, after

484
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 1: that conversation. They went back to the congregation and they

485
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,160
Speaker 1: also decided to sell their church. So you know, those

486
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 1: were handled, I think in a sensitive way. But again

487
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,159
Speaker 1: they go back and we talked about this in the

488
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 1: book It goes. It's not a complicated decision tree. It's

489
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 1: one that you do the right thing for the right

490
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 1: reasons and you live with the consequences of that. In

491
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,160
Speaker 1: this case, the right things the right reasons was telling them, listen,

492
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 1: we have an option here. We can we can give

493
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,320
Speaker 1: you an opportunity to capitalize on the value of your

494
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: real estate. If you're interested in that, great, If you're not,

495
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: and we'll pay you top price for it, and if

496
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,120
Speaker 1: you're not, it's fine too. We're gonna be neighbors, we're

497
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: gonna be friends, we're gonna be community, going to do

498
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:17,280
Speaker 1: all those things together. So um, and that's turned out

499
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 1: to be the case. I think the churches are very

500
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: happy that they've moved on and obviously where we're happy

501
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: with the stadium location. So given that we are, we're

502
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: taping this on August and everything changes our to our

503
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,680
Speaker 1: day to day. Give me your top line prediction at

504
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 1: this moment for the NFL season in terms of are

505
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: we going to play? Where are we going to play?

506
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,040
Speaker 1: How's it all gonna go? Oh, Jason, if I had

507
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,119
Speaker 1: if I had a bet now, I would say we

508
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 1: will have a full season. Um. Obviously, I think with

509
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: a couple of exceptions only out of thirty two claim teams,

510
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,439
Speaker 1: almost all franchises are not going to have fans in

511
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 1: either for the first game or the first month. UM.

512
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,240
Speaker 1: And I think, in my opinion, that's a wise decision

513
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 1: until the until the covid UH surges and crisises and

514
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 1: ups and downs mostly up sadly, UM, and a lot

515
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,880
Speaker 1: of our communities are stabilized there heading the right direction.

516
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 1: I think the decision about whether we have fans or

517
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: not hasn't really nothing to do per se with the NFL.

518
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 1: It should have to do totally with science and the

519
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,840
Speaker 1: medical profession and what we're hearing from them, and that's

520
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,040
Speaker 1: what our got in post should be and obviously doing

521
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 1: right by the community. So uh, just like in Montana

522
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 1: we operated do we operate to two guests ranches and

523
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 1: one of which have been opened to the public for

524
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: over a hundred years, and we closed it this year.

525
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: I mean not because we couldn't protect our guests, and

526
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 1: we couldn't protect our associates, but we couldn't protect the

527
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,439
Speaker 1: communities that that that would be hiring people from, and

528
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 1: we couldn't protect those communities from guests that would be

529
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 1: coming in nationally and internationally to visit us as a

530
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,440
Speaker 1: good every year. So you know, it seems like it's

531
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 1: a hard decision, but when you think of out, communities

532
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,119
Speaker 1: are important too in this in this uh, in this

533
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: circle of life. If you will, then you make that

534
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,880
Speaker 1: you make those decisions as well. So I think we'll

535
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,400
Speaker 1: have a full season. I think hopefully as the fall

536
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 1: goes on and things get better, you know, God willing

537
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: and us human beings participating by wearing masks and following

538
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:25,400
Speaker 1: the social distancing requirements, etcetera, that the numbers will will

539
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: will continue to start going down and I'll be able

540
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 1: to have fans in our building. But it's going to

541
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 1: be an odd year. I mean, it's going to be

542
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: an odd years as has been obviously, and as you

543
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 1: said earlier, it changes from day to day. I'm gonna literally,

544
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 1: as our listeners know, it changes from day to day

545
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: and UH, and we hope the changes now will be

546
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 1: more on the positive side on the negative side. Here's

547
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 1: hoping well, really good to spend some time with you.

548
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: Appreciated congratulations on the book. Arthur Blank, chairman owner the

549
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 1: Atlanta Boutins Atlanta United, co founder of Course Tone Deep

550
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: out the book. It's called good Company. You're listening to

551
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 1: Bloomberg businesses. Words from Boomberg Radio around the world. M