ATLANTA FALCONS Tim Zulawski is leading a team that has a goal of securing $1 billion in sponsorship activity for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons’ new home opening in 2017. To date, the agreements signed include Mercedes-Benz’s naming-rights deal plus founding partners IBM, Novelis, The Home Depot, SunTrust, Equifax and NCR, among the deals publicly announced.
Zulawski negotiated the Mercedes-Benz deal. All told, the Falcons, teaming with Premier Partnerships, their sales agency, expect to sign more than 30 sponsors split among founders and official partners, one tier below the founders’ level. In general, all of those deals carry a value of more than seven figures annually over terms of five to 10 years. Zulawski, who’s been with the Falcons since 2003, said reaching the billion-dollar threshold would place the Falcons among the top teams in the NFL in sponsorship revenue.
In pursuing the deals, the Falcons have brand designer Dimensional Innovations working with the sponsor companies and owner’s representative Darden & Co. A company such as Dimensional Innovations is typically hired by the brand itself for work on its specific activation space, but in this case, the firm was brought in by the Falcons to serve as an “experiential guide” for establishing activations for all partners, Zulawski said.
“What we’re doing is [forming] the totality of the experience so that when we open the doors, you’re not walking around saying ‘There’s art here that completely clashes with the Equifax exhibit,’ for example,” he said. “We’re bringing more resources and collaboration than I believe has ever been done before.”
Zulawski’s work for AMB Sports & Entertainment involves not only the Falcons and their new stadium, but also MLS expansion Atlanta United FC, which will share the venue.
For Zulawski, who first worked in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills as a 16-year-old intern, and his sales crew, the impressive revenue figures come at an unprecedented time in Atlanta, as well. Both the Falcons and the MLB Braves are building new venues, and both open next year.
“Atlanta doesn’t get the credit for the city that it is,” Zulawski said. “I’m hopeful that both what the Braves are doing [at SunTrust Park in Cobb County] and their approach, and what we’re doing [in downtown Atlanta] will shine a light on the city.”
— Don Muret
Tim Zulawski
AMB Sports & Entertainment | SVP, Chief Commercial Officer
Age: 39
Where born: Buffalo
Education: State University of New York, Fredonia (B.S., management information systems); Springfield College (M.Ed., sports management)
Family: Wife, Erika; first child on the way (due this summer)
Advice I’d give to my younger self: The degree by which you should stress about something is directly correlated to how long you’ll remember the outcome. One day: Not at all. One month: A little bit. One year: Alright, pay attention. A lifetime: Now you are getting serious.
2016 will be a good year if: My wife and our baby
on the way are healthy and happy.
Person in the industry I'd like meet: Dana White.
I'd like to change jobs for a day with: My father, working the assembly line — but it has to be on payday, so that I can always be reminded how hard he worked each and every day for so little pay to give all his kids a better life.
Causes supported: Fragile Kids Foundation. Also, Atlanta Humane Society: My wife and I have two dogs that live with us and three that “time share.”
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I’ve done: Flying a plane solo.
You'd be surprised to know: That my fear of flying drove me to learn how to fly a plane.
