Who are the possible sponsors?

[Eleven Bravo]

I'm not a business guy and i have never lived in Atlanta. so, i'm sure some of yall will be able to come up with a better list than me but i'm just curious of who could be possible investors.

Arthur Blank & Bernie Marcus-Hope Depot *might be moving to Florida???
Coca Cola
Ted Turner-CNN and Turner Broadcasting
Mercer Reynolds-Reynolds Plantation, Ambassador of Switzerland???
Delta Airlines
BellSouth and Cingular Wireless-*Might be moving to San Antonio???
Earthlink
UPS
Elton John
Anne Cox Chambers-Cox Enterprises
Jesse Robinson

[Michael CM1]

I'm not a business guy and i have never lived in Atlanta. so, i'm sure some of yall will be able to come up with a better list than me but i'm just curious of who could be possible investors.

Arthur Blank & Bernie Marcus-Hope Depot *might be moving to Florida???
Coca Cola
Ted Turner-CNN and Turner Broadcasting
Mercer Reynolds-Reynolds Plantation, Ambassador of Switzerland???
Delta Airlines
BellSouth and Cingular Wireless-*Might be moving to San Antonio???
Earthlink
UPS
Elton John
Anne Cox Chambers-Cox Enterprises
Jesse Robinson

It's sad really to see this list. About 10 years ago Ted Turner was da man. Now all that CNN/TBS stuff is HQed in New York. Blah. Georgia Pacific has been/will be sold, Delta is bankrupt, BellSouth (as much as I hate them) is going to be sold.

Therefore your local big businesses are Coke, UPS, and The Home Depot. Earthlink sponsors the Silverbacks so I doubt they would be a main sponsor or anything with a non-Silverbacks MLS franchise at first. Chick-Fil-A is local and privately owned (not publicly traded). I don't think they have the money to be a huge investor but they would sound like a good sponsor at some level. Cox Enterprises owned a couple of the WUSA teams so they're receptive to soccer.

So what's my opinion? With Home Depot already in the game in LA, I would say your best company investors are Coke or UPS. Arthur Blank/Bernie Marcus are the only humans I know of with that kind of cash yet I don't know their interest.

One thing never mentioned: why doesn't anybody else use the Green Bay model? Publicly trade a sports team. It hasn't hurt the Packers!

[jbeall]

Does the Home Depot sponsor a team? If the HDC is all they're attached to (and I don't think they sponsor the Galaxy, do they?), maybe they'd come in as a team sponsor.

Coca-Cola is probably out--Pepsi is already a league sponsor, and I doubt they'd let another soda company in (Red Bull is an 'energy drink', AND the I/O).

Turner, or whatever's left of it (and believe me, whatever's left of Ted's fortune is not insignificant) sounds like a good choice. It'd be great if TBS or Turner South picked up the broadcast rights on any Atlanta team. For this reason, I fervently hope that Ted gets involved somehow.

Cox Communications would be another great choice. If they're invested in the product, then maybe they'll feel more of an obligation to provide higher-profile coverage (and let me add, the AJC provides great soccer coverage for a city with no MLS team). Front-page, full-color photos, stuff like that.

UPS would be okay, too, except their brown logo will look like crap on any jersey. Earthlink is a good bet, provided the MLS team is the Silverbacks...

But a sponsor need not be local. We're basing this discussion on that assumption, but the metro Atlanta area was the fastest growing metro area in the nation for the better part of the 80s and early 90s. Mega-corporations all do business there, even if they're not based in Atlanta, so we need not limit a list to locally-owned corps.

[Eleven Bravo]

maybe, we need to get a petition started or something.

[Michael CM1]

Does the Home Depot sponsor a team? If the HDC is all they're attached to (and I don't think they sponsor the Galaxy, do they?), maybe they'd come in as a team sponsor.

Coca-Cola is probably out--Pepsi is already a league sponsor, and I doubt they'd let another soda company in (Red Bull is an 'energy drink', AND the I/O).

Turner, or whatever's left of it (and believe me, whatever's left of Ted's fortune is not insignificant) sounds like a good choice. It'd be great if TBS or Turner South picked up the broadcast rights on any Atlanta team. For this reason, I fervently hope that Ted gets involved somehow.

Cox Communications would be another great choice. If they're invested in the product, then maybe they'll feel more of an obligation to provide higher-profile coverage (and let me add, the AJC provides great soccer coverage for a city with no MLS team). Front-page, full-color photos, stuff like that.

UPS would be okay, too, except their brown logo will look like crap on any jersey. Earthlink is a good bet, provided the MLS team is the Silverbacks...

But a sponsor need not be local. We're basing this discussion on that assumption, but the metro Atlanta area was the fastest growing metro area in the nation for the better part of the 80s and early 90s. Mega-corporations all do business there, even if they're not based in Atlanta, so we need not limit a list to locally-owned corps.

First - Ted Turner doesn't own Turner South any more. Fox bought that and they're about to basically kill it. They're doing away with Don, Skip, Chip, Pete, and Joe on TS broadcasts. TBS is reducing their Braves games even more in 2008 on their way towards being basically a comedy channel.

I wouldn't mind UPS being the team owner/sponsor/whatever. They're local guys and, if you put the guys in all-brown uniforms, would have easily recognizable uniforms. I'm not saying go all RBNY on the team but lord knows the league needs some more original uniforms. Plus if my "Terminus" team name went with it, a shipping company would be a perfect sponsor.

Back to Ted - he'd be a great owner too but I think he's more interested in all things Montana right now. He's definitely helped put Atlanta on the map.

[jbeall]

First - Ted Turner doesn't own Turner South any more. Fox bought that and they're about to basically kill it. They're doing away with Don, Skip, Chip, Pete, and Joe on TS broadcasts. TBS is reducing their Braves games even more in 2008 on their way towards being basically a comedy channel.

No way!! Dammit. I love Ted, I hate Rupert Murdoch and all things FOX (except the Simpsons!), so that's terrible news in my opinion. I haven't had television in about four years, but when I did, I loved watching the Braves on TBS--it was one of my best connections (outside of family, of course) to my birthplace.

[Michael CM1]

No way!! Dammit. I love Ted, I hate Rupert Murdoch and all things FOX (except the Simpsons!), so that's terrible news in my opinion. I haven't had television in about four years, but when I did, I loved watching the Braves on TBS--it was one of my best connections (outside of family, of course) to my birthplace.

I called Ted's merger with Time Warner a major eff-up back when it happened. Apparently Ted thought these people were going to let him, like, have a say in what happened. I think he did this to try to compete more with Murdoch but, dammit, all he did was let a bunch of dummies run his companies. If Murdoch didn't already own the Dodgers, I bet he'd buy the Braves just to piss Ted off.

[Georgia Empire]

didn't ted own the chiefs?

[jbeall]

Didn't Murdoch buy the Dodgers when they were still the Braves' rival?

I'm not saying that was the reason (the huge media market was the reason), but IIRC, for awhile those petulant billionaires owned rival teams. In the 80s and early 90s, Brave fans LOVED to hate the Dodgers!

[Michael CM1]

Didn't Murdoch buy the Dodgers when they were still the Braves' rival?

I'm not saying that was the reason (the huge media market was the reason), but IIRC, for awhile those petulant billionaires owned rival teams. In the 80s and early 90s, Brave fans LOVED to hate the Dodgers!

The Dodgers were the Braves' rivals for all of about 3 or 4 years. Basically 1991-1993 when the Braves beat the Dodgers for NL West titles. In 1995 the divisions were realigned and that's basically when the Mets became the main rivals.

[jbeall]

The Dodgers were the Braves' rivals for all of about 3 or 4 years. Basically 1991-1993 when the Braves beat the Dodgers for NL West title. In 1995 the divisions were realigned and that's basically when the Mets became the main rivals.

Oh, it was longer than 3 or 4 years. The Braves beat LA for the NL West crown in 1982 and then finished second to LA the following season. We *hated* Tommy Lasorda so much, it was unreal.

For the rest of the 80s, the Braves were terrible, but since they didn't have any geographical rivals (being in the NL West and all...), LA was the big rival, although the feeling probably wasn't mutual for the Dodgers and their fans; after all, they had San Diego and San Francisco to hate. Besides, it's not much of a rivalry when one side consistently beats the other.

Then we ran them down late in the 1991 season. I think LA finished second in 1992 as well. In 1993 the Braves had a classic pennant chase with the SF Giants, and LA was more or less forgotten until 1996, when the Braves swept them in the divisional series. But yeah, it really hasn't been much of a rivalry since realignment.

[USvsIRELAND]

Coca Cola would be a great company to own the team or sponsor the team. We could have classic Red+White uniforms!

[jbeall]

Coca Cola would be a great company to own the team or sponsor the team. We could have classic Red+White uniforms!

Again, nice idea--great idea, even--but since Pepsi is a league sponsor, I doubt it'll happen. :(

[Georgia Empire]

someone mentioned Atlanta Classic in the original name thread. might be a little cliche but hey it would work if we were sponsored by Coke.

[TheWakeUpBomb]

Coca Cola would be a great company to own the team or sponsor the team. We could have classic Red+White uniforms!Because clearly there aren't enough red and white teams in MLS...

[Michael CM1]

Because clearly there aren't enough red and white teams in MLS...

Plus you know Coke would want all of the players to have wide hips and narrow waists so they looked like the bottles

[Eleven Bravo]

Plus you know Coke would want all of the players to have wide hips and narrow waists so they looked like the bottles

that could be the name of the cheerleaders

[BigKahuna]

I think a green team in next in line in MLS.

[Michael CM1]

I think a green team in next in line in MLS.

We could be the Atlanta Big Green and have some 12-year-old redhead play keeper

[SoccerPro843]

Dixie Cups.