This week is Arthur Blank’s time to play host not just for Atlanta and the Super Bowl, but also to his peers among owners in the NFL. Seated in his office at his Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in Buckhead, relaxed and wearing a pair of jeans, Blank took time earlier this month to go over his thoughts on a number of NFL issues, from the battle over Roger Goodell’s compensation to the coming labor fight with the NFLPA. The conversation below is edited for length and clarity.
As chairman of the compensation committee, you went through a tumultuous process to award the commissioner a new contract, including enduring a lawsuit threat from Jerry Jones. How hard was that for you?
BLANK: It became strained when Jerry injected … outside legal process into it, and the owners, the best owners I have worked with in 19 years, are ones that view the league as a true partnership and [say] let’s do what is the right thing, not necessarily for my franchise but for the NFL, for the shield.
The commissioner, to his credit, went from a contract that was about 95 percent fully guaranteed to … one that was about 95 percent not guaranteed. Roger had agreed to that before Jerry was involved at all. … People were a little turned off by how public he became on some of these issues and they felt they should have been kept in the confines of the room.
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Were you angry at what turned out to be inaccurate leaks, like the one that said the commissioner wanted a plane for life?
BLANK: Oh sure, absolutely all that crazy stuff, it was ridiculous. We didn’t want to lower ourselves to that level. We weren’t going to respond in the version of TMZ. … We didn’t want to get to that level. It was below us. It was a little frustrating during that period of time.
The CBA expires in two seasons. Are owners worried about a new deal?
BLANK: You always have concerns and worries, but I view the players as our partners; this is a partnership and I think that in many ways one of the side benefits — it’s not the reason owners and players have come together for the awareness and activity of these social issues — [of] the coalition of players and owners and the league and the shield all coming together has created a different environment. I have heard that from other owners that have been in the league longer than I have been.
My experience is that the players and owners are seeing things through much more of a similar lens than they have in the past. My hope is this will carry over into the labor negotiations, which are never easy, I get it.
Most pressing issue facing the NFL?
BLANK: The safety of the game; the notion of a level playing field is very important. The forms of [media] distribution … has changed dramatically. … That is going to be a continual challenge for the league as we go forward. Going to have an ongoing issue of making sure the fan experience, whether food and beverage or other kinds of experiences that take place. … The assumption you have to make is you are going to have to fight for that attendance every year. You can’t ever assume “I got a waiting list, I got this.”
What advice did you give the newest owner, David Tepper?
BLANK: [It’s] understanding who you are serving and you are serving your fans and you have to understand your fans, you have to listen to them carefully and not reinterpret, not filter, not argue with them, not debate with them. … Things where you don’t have the background, like in football, you are nothing more than a sophisticated fan.
What is the difference between operating the Falcons, which you bought in 2002, and United?
BLANK: It was easier in soccer [with the expansion United] because we had no bad habits we had to break, no legacy, no inconsistency and we had a chance to do it right from the start. We over-hired, I always believed in doing that, the very best people.
We had a chance to do all that without having to strip off a lot of Band-Aids and scars and things of that nature. We were going to make our own mistakes.
