Arthur Blank is no stranger to creating something out of nothing.
When he and Bernie Marcus dreamed up the idea to launch The Home Depot in 1978, big-box home-improvement retailers didn’t exist. Today, the company Blank cofounded has become the world’s largest in a category he helped invent, earning nearly $160 billion in revenue. History repeated itself in 2014 when he, at the helm of AMB Sports and Entertainment, set out to build Mercedes-Benz Stadium and nurtured a dream of Atlanta becoming a global soccer destination, a reputation it had never held before.
A self-described “soccer dad,” Blank supported his son Josh as he played all the way through college. “As I followed his career, I began to appreciate all the benefits that soccer brings to kids: being outside, playing together, the collaboration, the partnership, the respect, the rules of the game, the discipline, the hard work, the practice, and everything it takes to achieve at that sport,” Blank says.
Blank believed that Atlanta—and the Southeast more broadly—could become a world soccer capital, but not everyone was convinced. He remembers telling his friend Don Garber, commissioner of Major League Soccer (MLS), that he wanted to bring a professional team to Atlanta. “[Don said] ‘I’m not sure about soccer in the Southeast.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ve gone to a million of these club matches all over the city, the state, and beyond. There are a zillion kids in the Southeast playing soccer, and I think this would be very successful,’” Blank says. “I said, ‘Trust me, I know Atlanta well.’”
Fast-forward and Blank’s pro soccer team, Atlanta United, regularly sets MLS attendance records, and Atlanta will host eight FIFA World Cup 2026™ matches, including a semifinal. The series of games spread across North America is primed to be the world’s most-watched sporting event.
Photograph by Audra Melton
If You Build It, They Will Come
It’s no secret that Atlanta has long been a serious sports city, thanks to the Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and Falcons (Blank is majority owner of the last). Before Atlanta United, Georgia’s capital did have pro soccer teams—the Atlanta Chiefs, Apollos, Beat, and Silverbacks—but each incarnation lasted only a handful of years. Despite this less-than-encouraging track record, Blank was firm that Mercedes-Benz Stadium be built, at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion, to international soccer standards. (Field dimensions must be between 110 and 120 yards by 70 to 80 yards, which are different from what is required for American football.)
While Blank doesn’t claim to have built the stadium specifically with the FIFA World Cup™ in mind, he doesn’t deny it outright either. He recalls thinking before it was constructed, “We’re willing to build it and design it to meet FIFA standards for soccer at a world-class level because we think that soccer will return to the United States, hopefully for the World Cup and other international matches.”
Photograph by Audra Melton
The stadium certainly paved the way for soccer’s triumphant return to Atlanta. Atlanta United has topped its own game-attendance record year after year since its inception in 2017. In 2023, the 5-Stripes (the team’s unofficial nickname) became the fastest MLS team to reach 5 million spectators at a regular-season home match. The current attendance average is 44,000 fans per game, significantly higher than the 2025 MLS average of 22,519. This momentum is proof of concept that Atlanta is, in fact, a full-blown soccer hotspot.
It’s also a magnet for international sporting events. Thanks in large part to Blank’s state-of-the-art stadium, Atlanta clinched both the Super Bowl in 2019 and the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026™ matches, making it one of only a handful of cities in the United States to host both events.
“The stadium is second to none in the world. Arthur and his team continue to invest in the facility and create opportunities for fans to have a wonderful experience,” says Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and the Atlanta World Cup Host Committee. “It is a great honor for our state to host the two biggest sporting events in the world.”
Photograph by Audra Melton
This Means Business
Blank’s commitment to promoting soccer in Atlanta is paying dividends, according to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “Arthur Blank is a true force,” he says. “The World Cup is an opportunity for Atlanta to show itself on the world stage. It’s going to generate millions of dollars’ worth of economic impact, but it’s also an opportunity for cultural impact, because people will understand Atlanta’s landscape, our DNA of who we are, from civil rights to artistic expression and technology.” He believes that once individuals and major corporations experience the city’s hospitality, quality of life, and first-rate infrastructure, Atlanta will be top-of-mind as they contemplate future events and new locations for their operations.
Atlanta’s soccer clout has already prompted one organization to make the move to metro Atlanta. In spring 2026, the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center will open in Fayette County and serve as the nonprofit’s new national headquarters (previously in Chicago). The $228 million, 200-acre complex will include 17 fields, more than 100,000 square feet of indoor playing areas, and 200,000 square feet of locker rooms, meeting spaces, offices, and high-performance facilities that will be used to train the country’s 27 National Teams. The first-of-its-kind facility was built, in part, thanks to a $50 million contribution from Blank. “While my family and I are truly honored and humbled by the name of the center, it is not about us,” he says. “The U.S. Soccer Federation coming to Georgia is about the countless young men and women who will have the opportunity to chase their dreams here.”
Photograph by Audra Melton
Philanthropy Goals
Arthur Blank’s name has become synonymous with giving back. That’s not hyperbole: He has signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give away half his estimated $11.2 billion wealth. Through the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, he’s doing just that, with philanthropic areas focused on everything from mental health and youth development to democracy and the environment. In 2025, the foundation announced a 10-year commitment to bequeath $50 million to Atlanta’s four Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which will support gap scholarships to provide a path to graduation for approximately 10,000 students.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta opened the Arthur M. Blank Hospital in 2024, thanks to a $200 million gift from the man himself. “We needed a pediatric healthcare campus that could give every child in Georgia access to the care they deserve,” says Children’s CEO Donna Hyland. “Our ask was big, and Arthur didn’t hesitate.” That massive initial donation helped create a groundswell of public support that inspired more than 167,000 others to give to the state-of-the-art, 70-acre complex. “Arthur’s heart of caring for others is having an amazing impact for all walks of people across our state and far beyond,” Hyland says. “We are so fortunate to have a leader like Arthur in Atlanta.”
Photograph by Audra Melton
A Beautiful Sport
For all the accolades, major achievements, and buildings bearing his name, Blank consistently pulls the focus back to what he sees as the core mission of his sports endeavors: bringing people together.
“Soccer is the world’s ‘beautiful sport.’ I have watched in awe at how this great game brings people of every background together in ways that few other things can,” he says, noting that the game helps transcend differences that might otherwise divide people. “Soccer truly is a community linchpin.”
In November, AMB Sports and Entertainment announced a new National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion team for Atlanta. “We are committed to building a world-class training ground specifically for our new club, along with dedicated facilities at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that will give our NWSL players the resources, respect, and stage they deserve,” Blank says of the yet-to-be-named team that will begin playing in 2028.
He says developing more sports-related opportunities is key to helping the next generation thrive. “Our youth are our future. They make up one-third of our population and 100 percent of our future. Sports allow for connection, fresh air, and time away from technology,” Blank says. “Now more than ever, our young people are struggling with their mental health and loneliness. Sports bring people together more than anything else and no matter the sport, it is an opportunity for human connection.”
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Joe Reisigl
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