FLOWERY BRANCH – The South Hall Business Coalition tries to rotate their meeting sites to include as many of their member businesses as possible. Tuesday morning’s meeting, however, was unique; the Coalition met at a south Hall County business that enjoys a customer base unlike any other.
Imagine, if you can, running a business and having customers so enthusiastic about your product that they slather their bodies with grease paint in the colors of your corporate logo; imagine having customers that support you so vociferously they lose their voices cheering on your employees.
Sound far-fetched? Not if your business is known as the Atlanta Falcons, it isn’t.
The walk from the parking lot to the meeting room took Coalition members past freshly mowed (and freshly watered, thanks to overnight rain showers) practice fields. The sun glimmered off the goal posts. A group of rather large gentlemen watched from the doorway of one of the weight rooms as we arrived for the meeting; not far away you could hear a whistle blow.
Football was in the air.
Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce President /CEO Kit Dunlap advises SHBC members to make plans early for the annual meeting held at the Falcons Complex. She cautions that the meeting room has limited seating.
Guest speaker for the morning event was Greg Beadles. Beadles has been with the Falcons for 22-years and serves as Chief Administrative and Financial Officer for the NFL franchise.
Beadles began his presentation with a “fly-by” video tour of the team’s new stadium. Currently under construction in downtown Atlanta, the retractable roof complex will seat up to 75,000 for football games and 85,000 for basketball.
The stadium’s design has inspiration that crosses millennia. “The inspiration for the design was the Pantheon in Rome…and then the falcon wing,” Beadles said.
It also has design influences that are 21st century: energy efficiency and environmental-friendliness.
“We are on track to be the first professional stadium ever to be LEED Platinum, the highest level of environmental sustainability."
Beadles spoke proudly of the video board that will encircle the upper level of Mercedes-Benz Stadium (official name of the new stadium). “This is 58-feet tall,” he said referring at a PowerPoint image on the front wall, “and 1100-feet around.”
“We have more than twice as much LED video board as they do in Dallas (AT&T Stadium). Somehow we out Jery-Jones’d Jerry Jones,” Beadles said to the amusement of Coalition members.
Beadles then addressed another business decision regarding the new stadium that has generated interest, admiration and envy.
He said the Falcons and owner Arthur Blank studied data gathered by an independent organization that surveys fans for input on their experiences at NFL stadiums across the country.
The number one complaint regarding their experience was food and concession pricing. “At that stadium they say is the best you actually had a 63-percent customer satisfaction. The average was a low D or an F.”
“Once you’re in the building and you’re hungry you’re captive,” Beadles said. “We wanted to change the model on how food works in the stadium.”
As a result, Beadles says the Falcons plan to introduce “Fan-First Pricing” with dramatically lower food and concession pricing.
“That’s a big investment that Arthur (Blank, team owner) made up front. It’s literally millions of dollars each year, but it’s something he wants to give back to the fans.”
“But,” Beadle continued, “we starting hearing from our friends at other teams…they kind of feigned being upset with us but then they all wanted to know how ‘How are you doing this?’.”
“Hopefully this will help push some change all across the US,” Beadle added. “I think we’re going to start to see some change in the industry over the next four to five years.”
The $1.4-billion stadium project is scheduled to open in time for the 2017 NFL season, just over a year from now.
