Falcons CEO Rich McKay Speaks Out: “Arthur Blank Hears the Fans. He Knows the Angst.”

Falcons CEO Rich McKay Speaks Out: “Arthur Blank Hears the Fans. He Knows the Angst.”

Looks like that’s going to happen. All right, I guess he’s sitting down right now. Mr. Rich McKay. And boy, are you walking into something right now, Mr. McCay, thank you for coming by and appreciate you do uh spending some time with us, but we’ve been critical of this organization. We’ve been critical of you. I’m going to ask you a question because a lot of people are asking it, myself included. How involved are you in the day-to-day operations of what’s going on? So, I that’s a good Okay, that’s a good question. I I’m the CEO, so that’s that’s my responsibility. Greg is the president and runs the day-to-day. Um I’m probably there one day a week. I would say I go up. Um I’d say that the operation is listen, you know, we lost a football game this week and uh and a home game and it’s a really tough one um for everybody, especially for our fan base. Um, but the season is still got a long ways to go and we’ve got a lot of a lot of games to play and that’s one thing I I think Raheem I didn’t hear all of his press conference yesterday, but I heard some of it. Um, and I thought he did a good job of of reframing and refocusing, which is an important thing for him to do. Um, but listen, we anybody that’s involved in the organization, we none of us are um happy with what transpired on Sunday. We didn’t win a game. we didn’t and it wasn’t a good game. Uh but I think you get in Raheem and the way he led us, you got to refocus and you got to get ready because you you’re gonna have to go to New England and play next week and then we’re going to have to go to Germany and uh we got to get ready and try to win some football games. Um get some people healthy and win some football games. Are you part of Raheem said he did speak to Arthur and they speak on Mondays. Are you part of that? I was I was in that meeting. Yeah, he does do that. Um uh he’s great that way. A lot of the coaches have done that, right? they they sit there and they have just kind of a debrief. Um it’s not a long meeting, but it’s a good meeting because questions can get asked cuz Let me let me ask you, if you were a general manager still and you were a general manager in this league and on Mondays you hear from a coach, why did we not win this game? What was the biggest thing? Well, we lost the line of scrimmage, if there’s not follow-ups, if I saw the transcript of yesterday, please tell me that there was a deeper dive than we did not win the line of scrimmage. Okay. So, so and I’ll I’ll say this for you in in my days and I know I’m sure it’s in their days today. You got to understand uh a GM and a and a personnel department is they’re in the same building and they’re in the same room and they’re talking like I don’t know 18 hours a day because there’s so much that goes on during a season. Forget this season right now. I’ll just tell you from my time there’s so many moving parts on who’s practicing on Wednesday. who we bringing in uh at safety on Tuesday, who we working out on when I mean there’s just it’s a in you know it’s an operation that’s constantly in motion. So communication to to your question 100% of the time 100% of the time. But he made a point of when Arthur the conversation was we didn’t win the line of scrimmage. We didn’t win up front I believe was the actual quote. Please tell me that that wasn’t an acceptable answer because that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s gone on this year and and what I believe went on even on Sunday. I I I I’m not going to go into what what gets said in those meetings. I would just say to you that those meetings are one thing because it it’s a period of time. It’s, you know, it’s an hour. Um the the conversations that go on between the GM, the personnel department, and the coaching staff, that’s endless. That’s true in baseball as you know every day and that’s true in football and that’s true in basketball with the Hawks. I mean, so yes, what’s said back to the media is it’s a moment in time where you’re doing an interview and you’re given an answer, but I would tell you that the discussions that go on and the in-depth analysis of the discussions and today probably different certainly than in my day. Um, the analytical side of what you see and what’s presented from what came out of the game is is endless. Rich McCay is here with us. So, I said this yesterday. I think you have Arthur’s ear too much. I think you’re too involved in it and others feel the same. What say you? I you’re you’re certainly entitled uh to to say whatever that you know that that’s that’s what you guys do. I would say to you that I I I know the role I’m supposed to play. I’m supposed to help on on the business side. I’m supposed to help when we come to big decisions on the uh football side to give Arthur whatever views it may be. But I don’t I don’t try I haven’t tried for years to be on the football side. That’s not my role. Um, my role is to support. My role is when they need something and they want to discuss something, I’m going to be there to discuss it with them. Um, but I think uh the boss is, if you guys know Arthur, you know, he’s very smart, very intelligent, very caring. He listens, right? He is listening. Be assured, he hears the fans. He knows the angst. Um, uh, and I don’t think you could have an owner that wants to win more than he does. Um, and willing to do whatever it takes to win. How involved were you with the whole Bellichic thing and then Raheem Morrison the interview the interview process was there was a group of I that’s a okay it’s another question so I would say there was probably eight people maybe that were on that um group that went through that whole process um I was certainly one of them uh but uh there was we had an independent uh group that led it meaning an outside agency we had another agency that was consulting it so it was a big group there was no on. There’s no one person and ultimately it’s Arthur’s decision. So Arthur gets everybody’s thoughts and he is the ultimate decision maker in the hiring of a coach. That’s correct. Okay. What about and I I have said Mccay here by the way, Falcon CEO with us. Hey, we’re here because Arthur’s getting an award. That’s true. We’ll get to that. Trust me. Just want to get all the other stuff out of the way. I I am I’m nervous about this. I I used to have a different relationship with Arthur than I do now. And that’s fine. Everything evolves. Everything grows. All good. I’m I’ve used the the the statement I don’t know who has the stomach to do what anymore around here when you don’t go to the postseason for seven years and you might not for an eighth in a world that it’s not built to miss the postseason eight years in a row. Can you sort of talk to the idea that that’s not the case? We will do, he will do, everybody will do everything that it takes. And everybody is turning over every rock to not only make it better, but if it’s not better, we got to fix it sooner instead of later. Is he Is he the same guy he was 20 years ago? Who’s that? Arthur Blank. Yes. He’s as driven as he’s ever been. He’s as sharp as he’s ever been. I think you guys, if if you’ve been around him, he’s as sharp as he’s ever been. He’s as driven as he’s ever been. And I would say to you that the I won’t I would never answer the question that way because I I think that anytime you begin to have a conversation that doesn’t involve where you are in the season and who you’re playing next, you’re getting caught up in in stuff that you guys get to talk about, but we don’t. We have got to focus on what needs to be done for this week. Try to win a game because that’s really the only thing we can control. Is this postseason talent? Is this team talented enough to be in the postseason? I think when we went into the season, I think we said yes. I think that we continue to say yes. I think you got to you still got to still got to maneuver your way through the season on injuries, on who’s available, on who isn’t available, on who you’re playing. There’s a lot of things that go into it, but I certainly hope so. Do you know where a lot of the venom stems from? It’s last year with Kirk Cousins. How nobody figured out he was hurt. What is he still playing in football games where I don’t care if he’s going into the trainer or not? I don’t care if he’s on a list or not. the inability to realize on Wednesdays, Thursdays, whatever it might be, and certainly on Sundays, that’s where the the hold over venom is. I’m just trying to explain this in a way that’s real simple. There is venom that now exists because it seemed to be the coaching staff didn’t do what needed to be done last year. Therefore, you pay the price this year when we all go, I wonder if they’re doing the right thing this year. I I hear you. I’m I am I I hate to use a phrase, but I’ll use a phrase. I’m on to New England. And that um as you guys would imagine and I and I don’t when you lose a game the way we lost a game this week I don’t I’m not dismissing the emotionality. Is that a word? Not a minute. That’ll work for the sake of conversation. I get that. But I think we have to stay focused on the course and focused on the moment. And the moment is you got to win a game in New England. That is the moment. I hear that. I hear you guys. But that is the moment. And then the next moment is why I’m here, which is Arthur’s award. Let’s go. All right. Well, we we’ll get to that in one second. I just want to ask you one more thing because I don’t want to be accused of talking behind your back. I asked the question yesterday. I don’t know what it is that you do on a day-to-day basis. What is it that you do as the CEO of the Falcons? Because sometimes you say you’re involved, then you’re in meetings, you’re not involved. Yeah. So, so I I’m I’m the CEO of AMBSC and the CEO of the Falcons. I’ve got on the AMBSC side, we’ve got stadium stuff. We’ve got we got FIFA World Cup. We’ve got downtown. We got all that stuff on the Falcon side. I’m really the support uh there for Greg and the coach and others. Um I still have my league stuff that I’ve got with competition committee stuff. I’m still in some in those meetings that you describe. Um but I’m much more at a higher level. Um uh because we’ve got people that do this every day all day and our job is to support them and give them what they need and make sure we’re asking the questions that you guys think should be asked. And we’ll lead into the Arthur thing with this. And I’m not asking you to speak for him. I’m asking you based upon your observance. Is Arthur angry about this. I wouldn’t speak for him that way. I He’s, you know, he is highly competitive. Don’t underestimate Arthur’s competitiveness. Um, and so he’s going to he wants to win just as much or more than you ever dreamed of wanting to. I, you know, that, but I guess it’s situationally like is there was a thing a couple of years ago. This is what got me in trouble with him. It’s not the crapshoot thing. It’s everybody talked about being disappointed and I said, “When is somebody going to use the word angry?” And it’s a number of years ago and I just that’s the moment that lives with me where you go, you know, at a certain point disappointed. It’s not enough. I got I got it. I’m not going to speak for him in this moment. How about you as a football guy? Are you angry about this? I I am not I’m not I’m not I’m gonna not go down that path because I I I’m like you guys when the game’s over and you’re like ah I can’t you know you you go through all those emotions. You have got to get on the horse and get moving towards the next moment in time or you will lose again because you sit there and drowned in what happened. You got to fix it and move on. So I’m I’m done with those questions but I got your I feel you. I feel you. I’m I’m fine with it. Let’s move on. All right. So, let’s talk about why you’re here and why Arthur Blank is getting a reward and a reward and an award, I suppose. Yeah. Well, so the the the award is is really for everything he’s done in youth sports. Um which he’s a very unique individual when it comes to the youth sports, you know, spectrum. uh whether it’s golf and first t whether it’s flag football and starting in one county where there were 19 schools and now I think there’s over 300 schools and I think there’s 9,500 girls that play flag football in Georgia there’s over I don’t know how many schools in Alabama and in Montana all of that so you’ve got and then you got soccer where we’ve uh done Georgia 100 where he has done Georgia 100 which means there will be a hundred pitches built in the state of Georgia of which he is the funer Um, so he’s touched all the different areas and that’s why I think, you know, Lake Points wanted to honor him and and um really because in the youth sports area, he he’s gone into now into middle schools and made a bunch of grants in different um uh counties and middle schools. And middle school is the great place where a lot of kids participate up to sixth grade. Then they get to middle school and they and they, you know, the fees get high, they drop off, they and they fall off and then then the real players show back up in high school. We’re trying to fill that void. And so he’s just done a lot in this. I have said this and I mean this Arthur Blank, what he does for the city, 80% of it will never be known. This is a behind-the-scenes thing that he’s doing these things that you talk about. Absolutely. Award worthy. Absolutely. I love the fact that his legacy is going to be beyond the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta United. I do. I because I know that’s him to the core. I think the thing that again I hope this idea of trying to chase his Super Bowl doesn’t take away from that. Uh but I feel like again it we’re almost at that point and and it stinks in a lot of ways. He is supposed to be awarded these things. He is doing more than any of us will ever do or know. I think he’s because he’s Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons. That’s the position he has that everybody goes to first, second, and third. The high-profile nature of of owning an NFL team is not lost on any of us. That that’s for sure. I think what he does every day um in all the ways that he touches those people meaning everybody uh and specifically in the state of Georgia he’s given away 1.5 billion in this you know in his lifetime probably 85 to 90% of that is in Georgia is fantastic. I got it. I got that in in the um in the moment we’re in and I I I it’s not lost to me. I will just tell you that the impact that he’s making whether it’s in the H.B.CU and in the scholarship program that he just created that is just unbel it’s a transformational program that others will copy others will go into the space he just went into uh that’s going to make a difference in an incredible amount of lives uh and and in a society which I just can’t give enough credit for. All right, I’m going to beat the dead horse before you go. Does he come to you first when there’s anything on his mind football-wise? Are you the first person he comes to inside of that building? I, you know, I I would say the answer to that is it depends. Um, but I would say he talks to the coach, he talks to the uh GM, he talks to Beatles, he talks to me, he talks to all of us. He’s a, you know, Arthur’s a smart man and and is always, you know, paying attention, but he doesn’t coach the team and he doesn’t pick the players, but but he asks the questions. Um, I think He’s in He’s involved. Um, and we’re all part of that. And he has final say, though. Can we get back to that? He he has final say. He does. But remember, he’s not coaching the team, but he does. But he doesn’t, you know, he’s not calling the plays. I You guys know that. Yes, you guys know that. But I just meant big picture. It is his absolutely. He’s in control. It’s his call. Stays, goes, anything else that goes on around the building. True. In our businesses, any of our businesses. Yes. Yes, he does. whether I’m whether it’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, whether it’s FIFA World Cup, whatever, he is he is he definitely has it. Well, we’ve known each other a long time and thanks for coming by and sitting down and answering the questions, man. I’m happy to I’m I’m sorry it’s coming off the loss. It was It’s a hard game, but we got to get on to New England and at some point you got to get on to New England. We got to get focused. What’s today? Tuesday. I’m just not there yet. Okay, tomorrow. Wednesday is the day you start prepping. Rich, CEO of the Falcons here with us. Let’s take a break. It’s the one thing Kirby Smart doesn’t want to deal with and we’ll talk about it next on Chelini and Namino the fan 680.

Falcons CEO Rich McKay joined Cellini & Dimino on 680 The Fan for a candid interview that has everyone talking.

McKay made headlines when he revealed he’s “probably there one day a week” at Flowery Branch while explaining his role in football operations. He also discussed Arthur Blank’s involvement in team decisions, the front office’s communication after losses, and whether the Falcons are talented enough to make the playoffs this season.

In one of his most open interviews yet, McKay addressed fan frustration, accountability inside the organization, and what the future holds for the Falcons under Blank’s leadership.

🎥 Watch the full interview now on Atlanta’s Sports Station – 680 The Fan.

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