Atlanta sports CEOs drawn from other fields

Before he became CEO of the Hawks, Steve Koonin spent 14 years as an executive at Coca-Cola and another 14 at Turner Entertainment Networks, both much larger businesses than a pro sports franchise.

Yet, nearing two years with the Hawks, Koonin has found his current position a satisfying challenge.

“It’s the most complex job I’ve ever had — by far,” he said. “It’s 1/20th the size of what I did at Turner and it’s 20 times the complexity.”

Koonin is part of a trend in Atlanta sports — executives from non-sports backgrounds running the businesses of the city’s pro franchises.

With Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s hire last month of Steve Cannon from Mercedes-Benz as chief executive officer of Blank’s for-profit businesses, Atlanta’s three highest-profile pro sports teams have CEOs who came to the jobs from other industries: former long-time Turner Broadcasting executive Terry McGuirk with the Braves, Koonin with the Hawks and, starting Feb. 1, Cannon with the Falcons.

“I think having the sports background is really not only secondary — I would say it’s very secondary — in the success of somebody filling this role,” Blank said.

Koonin and McGuirk attributed that to the range of issues a sports CEO faces.

“I would say the modern CEO of a sports organization is maybe more of a generalist,” McGuirk said, “with great experience in the sophistication of many different businesses and the financial activities that go on between them.

“There’s probably not many businesses that have such a large cross-section of disciplines — marketing, player operations, venue operations, financial, contractual with the players, real estate, media.”

Robert Boland, director of the master’s program in sports administration at Ohio University, said it’s not just in Atlanta that sports franchises are hiring top executives from disparate industries.

“It is a trend around the country,” Boland said. “How long that trend persists, the answer is probably an open one.

“The hard part is that while the business of running a sports franchise is one of the most complex things anyone ever does, the real economic key in almost every circumstance is: Do you win? That’s the hard one to control.”

In many cases, the CEO has limited control over that.

While Cannon will lead the business operations of the Falcons and other Blank-owned entities — Atlanta United soccer team, PGA Tour Superstore and Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana — the Falcons’ football-operations side, led by the head coach and general manager, will continue to report to Blank. Similarly, Hawks coach/president of basketball operations Mike Budenholzer reports to ownership. The Braves’ situation is different, with McGuirk given power over all aspects of the team by owner Liberty Media.

The three CEOS had high-powered careers before their moves to sports:

• McGuirk spent more than three decades with Turner Broadcasting and served as chairman and CEO of the company from 1996 until 2001. He became the Braves' top executive in 2003 and remained in the position after Liberty Media bought the team from Turner's parent company, Time Warner, in 2007.

• Koonin was one of the top marketing executives at Coca-Cola through the 1990s before joining Turner and running TNT, TBS and other networks. He left his position as president of Turner Entertainment Networks in 2014 to become the Hawks' CEO and remained in that position after a group led by Tony Ressler bought the team last year.

• Cannon, with Mercedes-Benz for about 18 years over two stints, became president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA in 2012. He led the relocation of the German automaker's U.S. headquarters to metro Atlanta early last year and shortly thereafter was involved in its purchase of naming rights to the new Falcons stadium. Blank said there was no discussion or thought of Cannon as a potential candidate for CEO of AMB Group — the Falcons' parent company — until sometime after the naming-rights deal was completed.

When Cannon became a candidate for the position, which was created because of Blank’s stated desire to step back from day-to-day management responsibilities, Cannon’s absence of experience in sports management wasn’t a negative to the owner.

“The fact he didn’t have a background in sports or football or golf or soccer … really was not important to me,” Blank said.

In fact, Blank said, just two of almost a dozen candidates seriously considered for the position with the help of executive search firm Korn Ferry had backgrounds in sports business. Of those two, one worked in college sports and the other “for a very short commitment in a sports industry,” Blank said.

“I think the higher up you get, the technical expertise in the industry becomes less and less important,” Blank said. “And the ability to understand a (company’s) culture, to be a strategist, to plan, to be somebody that can follow up on execution, somebody that can relate well to associates and to the people you’re serving in the community … those all become the driving factors.”