ATLANTA — Billionaire team owner Arthur Blank is thrilled with Atlanta’s showing during the World Cup.
So is FIFA, he said.
The Atlanta Falcons, United, and future NWSL team owner told reporters during Argentina’s 2-1 semifinal win over England on Wednesday that he met with FIFA leadership including president Gianni Infantino during the match. Blank said FIFA “couldn’t be more enthused, excited, supportive of what we’ve done here in Atlanta.”
“[Infantino] was kind enough to say to me, ‘After this is said and done, I’d love to come back to Atlanta, spend some time with you, talking about how we can continue to expand our relationship with FIFA,’” Blank said. “I said, ‘We’d be honored and privileged to do that.’”
Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which Blank opened in 2017, was widely ranked as one of the best venues of the World Cup, for which it hosted eight matches. The retractable “iris-style” roof forms an indoor stadium that was deafeningly loud on Wednesday. Fans enjoyed low prices at concessions stands because Atlanta refused to let FIFA jack up the costs as they did at other stadiums.
Blank’s soccer empire has been building toward 2026 for years. The Home Depot cofounder previously said Mercedes-Benz was designed “to accommodate all FIFA standards,” and has become one of the country’s best soccer venues, with Atlanta United consistently leading MLS in attendance. In the spring, workers broke ground on a training center for his new NWSL team, and U.S. Soccer opened a new training center and headquarters in the Atlanta suburbs named for Blank, who contributed $50 million to the project.
Blank, 83, called being a part of the World Cup “one of the major milestones” in his life. He had high praises for how Atlanta handled the tournament operationally and the energy brought by the fans.
FIFA will vote in November on bringing the 2031 Women’s World Cup to the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, and organizers in Atlanta have already indicated they want to be a part of that tournament. “We’d be happy to be connected to that in any way we can be,” Blank said Wednesday of the 2031 women’s tournament.
There have also been rumblings during the World Cup about potentially bringing the men’s tournament back in 2038.
When asked Wednesday about that possibility, Blank said he hasn’t heard anything officially.
“I’ll be 120 by then,” Blank joked. (He’d actually be 95.) “But I still would want to be part of it and be supportive of anything we can do now or in the future to make that happen. We would certainly want to do it.”
Atlanta’s soccer future doesn’t hinge on its aging patriarch. Blank’s son, Josh, is the reason his father became interested in soccer in the first place. After playing college soccer at Elon and working in the NFL league office, the younger Blank, 30, became VP of executive strategy for Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment two years ago.
“We are incredibly excited about the summer, but more so just incredibly excited about the direction of soccer for us,” Josh Blank told Front Office Sports earlier this year. “The next five years, it’s pretty incredible how much soccer we’ll have going on and how many big moments, and we’re excited to be part of the continued transformation of soccer in the United States, and are here to do whatever we can to continue elevating the sport.”
Having bought the Falcons in 2002, the elder Blank has seen a lot of big sports moments. But he said the World Cup is something else entirely.
“I’ve been to a bunch of Super Bowls,” Blank said, “and I love [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell and I love the NFL and I love our Atlanta Falcons, but I would say, the atmosphere in the World Cup is just different, and I mean that in the most respectful way.”
