And that's one of our core values as well: Include everybody. I listen to what he says and sometimes I'll cringe. If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'. The Arthur M. Blank Foundation announced on Wednesday a new series of grants focusing on mental health and well-being in response to America's growing mental health crisis. One where guys like the Vikings Mark and Zygi Wilf and Arthur (Home Depot) Blank of the Atlanta Falcons come off as comparatively rational. 17. The documentary will premiere exclusively Nov. 23, 2020 at 8 p.m.on Georgia Public Broadcasting. ATLANTA Protests over the death of George Floyd have been gaining national attention. << More must be done to bring people together through meaningful change. It's the customers. He just opened the door. 2023 Cox Media Group. 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. Blank's statement did not specify any initiatives or call any elected officials or political parties by name. 9, Blank is a strong supporter of the Democratic Party. /Title ( A r t h u r b l a n k p o l i t i c s) However, peaceful protests really go back and look at the history of our country back to the Boston Tea Party. /Type /ExtGState The organization works directly with election officials to maintain accurate and complete voter lists and to secure their election technology infrastructure. Blank is a dedicated Democratic supporter, having donated thousands to Hillary Clinton's campaign, the Bullock Victory Fund, which backs the party's 2020 candidate for Montana senator, Gov. The problem for the big, powerful, macho NFL, as it is for every other giant public entity, is that racism and cancer are kind of the easy stuff. Walz Cooperation With Law Enforcement Deserves Praise, Not Punishment, If You Think Republicans Cant Ban Abortion in Minnesota, Look No Further than Iowa, Russia, Ukraine and My Seven Months with YouTube. And next thing I know, he was sitting on his knees and with a gun to his head. /Subtype /Image How best to put it? But my mother would say to me, You know, what you have to say is important. People are scared and in pain. However, many Americans are still being denied access to their vote and their ability to fully participate in our democracy. Falcons owner Arthur Blank spoke with reporters during a 10-minute teleconference from the Super Bowl. It is my hope that we take this terrible moment in our history to elevate that conversation toward productive action and lasting, positive change. In a statement released on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Twitter account, attributed to Blank, he said Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation leadership conveyed his sentiment directly to state officials in recent weeks. The statement reads: "We are at our very best. "And I'm not 100 years old I'm getting there, but I'm not but the things I see and deal with are just inherently not what's made this country great. 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. I know you see my partner, Bernie, on Fox News very often. (Confidentiality, you know.) I mean, you write a book like this, it's really getting into kind of the political arena. And so think about the implications of the choices you're making for yourself and for your loved ones, etc. Did the Vikings and NFL Just Blacklist Another Left-Leaning Player? I seriously doubt the leagues TV ratings or ad revenue would suffer an iota. So we had 35, 40 players kneeling before that, after that speech, we had close to 300 players kneeling because they took it personally and their families took it personally and their parents and their siblings and their grandparents and their heritage was being challenged. Brian and Arthur welcomed their daughter Blake into the world via Arthur's sister Aoife, who acted as a surrogate for the couple, back in September -- with Brian previously teasing the documentary before Blake's arrival. His faith is very strong. << When he came out, he was on house arrest and I took a meal to him and his family from his favorite restaurant here in Atlanta. So we designed our stadium to accommodate not just for the Atlanta Falcons and National Football League football American football but soccer as well. Those come first. As I've said, 95% of my estate is going to be recycled back through our foundations and they will provide their insights and their leadership and their views and values that their father and their mothers would be very proud of. We need to recognize those truths. A co-founder of Home Depot increased his giving for children in the pandemic because, he said, "they don't always have the tools to deal with what's happened to them.". All Rights Reserved. Falcons owner Arthur Blank is weighing in on Georgia's sweeping overhaul of election laws. Atlanta, GA 30318 7) Pictured is the famous napkin deal that sealed Arthur Blanks agreement with Taylor Smith to purchase the Atlanta Falcons for $545 million in 2001. He and an associate, Bernie Marcus, began experimenting with product discounts in one Handy Dan outlet and observed positive effects of decreasing costs as a percentage of sales and an increase in customer volume. Hopefully we'll get back in the playoffs, but not as well as the first three years. I mean, it doesn't make a difference how old you are. Link Copied! Our family foundation seeks to preserve and strengthen our democracy, and weve chosen this as one of our new collective areas of giving. Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with businessman Arthur Blank about gun regulation and philanthropy. Sign up for notifications from Insider! 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. The public discourse on these and other issues is too divisive, too political. Sign up to receive GPB Event announcements via Email. Where did your parents come from with your grandparents? We all came from someplace else, other than the other Native Americans. And the great political leaders in the past, they were civil and they were good listeners. So, then we opened up The Home Depot. Mercedes-Benz Stadium aims to be the first stadium to receive LEED Platinum certification. stream 2010-2023 Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. He owns the team, after all. Since then, they have re-organized their focus areas more specifically into four groups: policy advocacy, organizing and civic engagement, impact litigation, and legal services. In a time when more than half of Americans are dissatisfied with the state of our democracy, the most powerful way to demonstrate and have our voices heard is through the vote. So, we had great confidence in our own abilities. The Atlanta media thrashed Arthur Smith, Terry Fontenot, and Arthur Blank about their interest level sometime after the news broke. /AIS false By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. "It's healthy to disagree on things, but it's not acceptable to not be kind.". Falcons owner Arthur Blank made a $15 million donation on Tuesday to The Cooper Institute, run by its founder Dr. Kenneth Cooper, a friend of Blank's and a strong proponent of preventive medicine. Blank also contributed $28,500 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008. Arthur Blank, owner of Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, co-founder of Home Depot . It is making no promises that it will reveal everything it has found out about the Redskins and others who had contact with the team. "His approach obviously is different. All the issues that Colin [Kaepernick] raised at that time [2016-2107] about the social injustice and lack of equality and equity in the criminal system and all those issues, I think they were real then and they're certainly real now. And Ambassador Young, another good friend would say the same thing. %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz In 1978, they were both fired from Handy Dans by a corporate raider who took over the chains parent company. Another Home. "I know what he cares about and he cares about a lot of the same things that I care about.". GALEO strives for a better Georgia where the Latino community is engagedcivically, and its contributions and concerns are recognized. We have to be better than burning down our own homes because if we lose Atlanta what else do we have?, I want you to go home. In 1978, they co-founded the home-improvement retailer The Home Depot, with the help of merchandising expert Pat Farrah and New York investment banker Ken Langone who assembled a group of investors. The foundation is . Players and coaches appear giving quick testimonials. So, that represents that melting-pot philosophy: Were all in this together. 8 . 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. That origin story is well known in business and retail circles as an example of how bold, disruptive thinking can change the game, but Good Company provides a more personal view. The Georgia Dome was also built for the Olympics, and construction for Philips Arenathe Hawks home, which sits next door to the Dome and where the previous basketball arena, the Omni Colosseum, once satbegan in 1997. America has long struggled to deliver a fair and equitable democracy to all of its citizens. (And Im not forgetting Colin Kaepernicks protests against police violence, and how the league effectively blackballed him before paying him off to avoid a certain-to-be-nightmarish public trial.). Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons owner and co-founder of Home Depot) 2020Joe Biden 2016Hillary Clinton 2012Barack Obama Maxine Clark (founder and former CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop) 2016Hillary Clinton Michael Eisner (former CEO of Disney) 2016Marco Rubio, then later Hillary Clinton 2016Kamala Harris Jack M. Greenberg (former CEO of McDonald's) But he was there and he finally said, Listen, you own the franchise, you have the option. And that's an example of the happiness that we're talking about. That is the change we need in this country.". One of the beauties is that when you come to the stadium, it feels like it's the United Nations. So I would just cut him some slack. Is the Jensen-Birk Campaign Minnesotas WOAT? RELATED:Georgia Secretary of State calls many election changes 'solid'. GPB intern Eva Rothenberg contributed to this article. Porn Star Pay Offs, Inciting Insurrection, Sexual Assaults, Bank Fraud, Election Conspiracy and FoxNews v. Dominion. Not about dogfighting. Its a story about making bad choices and the impact of young people. 5) Owner Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Flacons reacts before a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on November 10, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! And, you know, living in poverty, we had friends coming by all the time and what have you. I love CNN, I love Cartoon Network. With Labels, Listen to Affected Populations, Not Activists, As With Alcohol, Mitigation, Not Prohibition, Is the Answer, It Seems Democrats Are Blundering Badly (Again) with Their All-Abortion, All-the-Time Campaign. How? And to be sure, Atlanta is better than what we saw in the actions of a few last night. 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! So, you know, soccer is on the ascent in the United States dramatically, which is a great thing. 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. But tell me what I can do to help? And they said, Well, you know, the reality is about 40% of our stadium is empty. By all accounts, those associated with the new stadium and the Westside view their presence as at least a 10-20 year commitment toward revitalizing a downtrodden community and bringing the city together. Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta is the first nonprofit legal advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) and Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities in Georgia and the Southeast. Home Depot cofounder, Arthur Blank, is a longtime Democratic supporter and donated $250,000 to committees supporting Joe Biden between July and September in 2020, Another Home Depot cofounder, Bernie Marcus, is an. And I remember he told me, he said, You know, when [I went into] the prison system, they gave me three pair of underwear, three shirts, three pair slacks, three socks and one pair of shoes, and that was it. He said, That was all I was going to have, as opposed to the lifestyle he was leading before. These are not political issues, they are human issues that need serious, earnest attention from leaders and . Blank, who is Jewish, also addressed the administration's failure to recognize the losses suffered by the Jewish people during the Holocaust. But the level where this Gruden idiocy touches the countrys perilous moment is where the NFL arguably one of the most popular and therefore influential organizations/corporations in the country could and should use Grudens buffoonish racism and sexism to make unambiguous statements to its fans, which is to say just about everyone in the country. What Does Hamline Not Understand About Academic Freedom? So I would fight for that and surround myself with people who believe the same thing, because you have to have that brain power in every institution or corporation or nonprofit. (Airlines resisting vaccination mandates for passengers are another prime example of failure of true leadership.) I concede, as others who know him personally have, that Im stunned that a guy like Gruden who has been a high-profile media/cultural presence for over 20 years, regularly giving live interviews, chewing up air time as a TV analyst and obliging all the other requests for personal contact that go with being a football celebritry could conceal his essential meat-headedness so long and so well. Home Depot cofounders Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus have long been on separate sides of the fence when it comes to politics. And I think we got disconnected. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. But that was typical of my mother. To anyone interested in a deeper dive into NFL culture I strongly recommend, Big Game by New York Times Magazine writer Mark Leibovich for an inside-the-suites sense of who says what to who when its more or less just them peer billionaires talking. Ticket pricing was higher than it could have been or should have been at that time, and so I brought Dick Sullivan over from Home Depot, the gentleman who now runs our PGA Superstores and we came up with a strategy that we've got to sell season's tickets for $100. The stadium boasts roughly 4,000 solar panels and will use 70 percent less energy. So there wasn't a word on the other end of the phone. And so he speaks to people throughout the United States, young people primarily, about that. I am, in a certain sense. Like all stories meant to inspire, he takes some knocks. It's a beautiful thing. We had a different leader [Robert Nardelli ] in place that was eventually replaced. My suspicion is that while Dungy and Tirico and dozens if not hundreds of other NFL leaders may have been surprised by Grudens racist imagery, they arent as unfamiliar with his other boys club stupidity. And they found ways to get things done with people who had a little bit a different view but found that commonality that was really important. 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. 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. Playoffs, playoff championships, etc. You know, dig in [your] heels and it becomes, "My territory, your territory," etc. And if all goes to plan, its also going to help a depressed community thats heard big talk before. And I love him. /Creator ( w k h t m l t o p d f 0 . 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. For more information about Life Itself, visit the . Theres at least one more level to the Jon Gruden disaster that NFL fans should consider about the leagues remarkable influence. Download the FOX 5 Atlanta appfor breaking news and weather alerts. Max died when Arthur was 15, leaving his mother to grow what became a multi-million-dollar business. Looting is NOT THE ANSWER!!!! Blank is a strong supporter of the Democratic Party. Hey, Senate DFLers, Dont Forget The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact! The couple filed for divorce in 2013. 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. /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB !, Do not fall for this foolishness!!! 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. "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. This isnt just a short-cut, this is a long-term play with significant input and investment into the community and its future, said Scott Jenkins, the general manager of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, to The Daily Beast. And so he carries a weight of authority that somebody who's just called a suit and comes in and talks to them and doesn't quite feel the same, same way. So I'm happy to see that, you know, he came back to Atlanta and spent time here. I was gagged. Arthur Blank is getting more involved in the political process. And so from there, since the 2001- 2002 season, we've only had three games that were not sold out during the season. Which country do you come from? But, you know, I think the word civility is terribly important today in the political world in which we just don't see it the way we need to see it. Weve never won a Super Bowl, and this years loss in Super Bowl LI was especially hard to take. I mean, people were throwing tea off those boats because they were protesting, you know. And he should know. 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. He received his MBA from Harvard. It is in effect protecting the teams owner, a guy regularly reviled by sportswriters, players and fans as a (very wealthy) toxic idiot. Yet the team continues to unite Atlantans during the ups and downs. Paul, are you OK? I was going to call his secretary, thinking Paul got a heart attack or something. So it really never defined me. Resistance to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Futile. 15, Two of Blanks children, Dena Kimball and Kenny Blank, sit on the board of directors of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. I'll flip words around, you know, subconsciously and, and make sentences complete. Bernardo Little . 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. Over the past week, figures around the NFL have And then as Dr. King wrote in his last book, which his wife published a year after he passed away. And the Falcons new stadiumscheduled to open this summerwith an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, $200 million coming from Atlanta hotel-motel taxesis definitely big and shinny with tons of gadgets to enhance the fan experience. But this is where the similarities with most other stadiums end. The guest. 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. 7, Blank founded the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in 1995 and has awarded over $560 million to causes such as education and early childhood development. In his new book, Good Company, Blank follows his own success to show that purpose and profit can and should coexist. A little shaky now. I would suggest, for anybody in business, that you listen to who you're serving.