Reporters’ notebook: New Brave Nicky Lopez is fueled by Chipotle

The following, a weekly feature of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, allows our reporters to open their notebooks and provide even more information from our local teams that we cover daily. We think you’ll find in informative, insightful and fun.

Fueled by Chipotle

New Braves utility infielder Nicky Lopez, acquired Sunday, has a cool life perk.

Lopez has a card that gets him unlimited Chipotle – for free. Anything he wants, for free.

And he can get free catering for up to 50 people. Pretty sweet.

How did he get this?

He said he has a friend whose dad is high up at Chipotle.

“I can’t give away secrets,” Lopez said jokingly.

Falcons’ Arthur Smith intrigued by NIL

Falcons coach Arthur Smith is intrigued by the name, image and likeness (NIL) landscape in college football and how they will affect NFL prospect evaluations.

“I just want to hear from them,” Smith said. “I’m not looking to see what the local Wing Stop has — I’m just curious just to learn. Like, what’s going on out there? What’s going on all around?

“For forever, the agents were like pariahs. Like you couldn’t get within 20 miles of a college campus, and they were trying to run you out of there.

“Now, some of these high school kids — locally, you look at it, there are some huge recruits and these guys are like 14, and they have agents. That has an effect and what they’re exposed to and you’re just trying to learn. There’s nothing wrong one way or another, I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”

Blank excited about international expansion, Germany marketing rights

Falcons owner Arthur Blank is looking to more marketing Internationally.

The Falcons, through the league’s Global Markets Program, became the fifth NFL team to be granted international marketing rights in Germany at the league meeting in May.

“Let’s take one step back and look at the brand of the NFL,” Blank said. “There’s 330 million people living in America, and there’s about eight billion living on the rest of the planet, including the population of America. So, the NFL has a lot of room to grow this game.”

The NBA, during David Stern tenure, was the first American league to emphasis international expansion.

“You think about basketball and soccer and other sports that have done that very effectively,” Blank said. “So, I think for the NFL, the future is bright. I think these five games we played last year, five more again this year, and probably more in the future, they’ve been sold out in minutes. Not hours and not days, but in minutes.”

The Falcons are set to play Jacksonville in London on Oct. 1.

“I’m very optimistic about where the NFL is going from an international standpoint,” Blank said. “So, we’ll continue to support that.”

Blank was unaware that the Falcons had a huge fan base in Germany.

“I don’t think Mercedes-Benz, our title sponsor at the stadium, was aware of it either, so we’re going to take full advantage of that,” Blank said. “We did a USO tour again this year and (Arthur Smith) and others visited with our fans in Germany, so we’re going to continue to support that relationship. It wouldn’t shock me if one of these years, we were asked to go play in Germany.”

It’s “a relief” for NFL owners to have Snyder situation resolved

Blank applauded the ownership change with the Washington Commanders, who were sold to the Josh Harris group after the tumultuous tenure of Daniel Snyder.

“Well, I think it’s a relief I would say,” Blank said. “That’s probably the best singular word I would use. You know, it’s gone on for a long time. Dan Snyder was the owner there for 24 years, I believe is the correct number. It’s a storied franchise.

“One of our close friends is coach (Joe) Gibbs. Many of you remember coach Gibbs was a limited partner of mine for years until he went back to coaching. We were always close to Washington and close to coach Gibbs and what was going on there.”

Snyder was fined $60 million after an independent investigation concluded he sexually harassed a team employee and that the team withheld revenue from the NFL.

“So, I think that given the more recent history with Dan and the franchise, I think that’s really the best thing for the city of Washington, for their fans and for the NFL,” Blank said. “I certainly wish Dan and his wife, a cancer survivor, a lovely woman, and their family really well in the future.

“I would say that’s true across the league, but we have a great new owner in Josh Harris. He’s experienced, he’s got great business skills, he was the owner of some professional sports teams. He understands the nature of sports and fans and players. We look forward to working with him.”

Pastor Fontenot at the podium

Falcons general manger Terry Fontenot went on a tangent while addressing the media from the podium Wednesday.

“This feels weird, I’ve never stood up here,” Fontenot said. “I feel like I’m a pastor in a church. I feel like I need a Bible. I’m used to sitting down. It’s like I’m speaking to the congregation. That’s my deacon right there (he pointed to a reporter), he picks up the offering.”

Sanford Stadium bridge access restricted

UGA plans to unveil the Phase 1 improvements to the south side of Sanford Stadium when the season opens against Tennessee-Martin on Sept. 2. However, not everybody is going to be thrilled about the changes.

Georgia is in the midst of a $68.5 million, two-phase construction project that is widening the South 100 concourse and adding bathrooms and concession stands to the southwest corner of the 92,746-seat facility. Phase 1 also is adding access to ticketed areas from Gillis Bridge.

The downside of that for at least a small group of fans is access to the bridge now will be limited to ticketed spectators – and not to the general public – on game days. Gates 1 and 9 now will be located on either end of the bridge, which will be considered a ticketed area.

The new design will add more seats for disabled fans and a new sensory room at Section 128 for fans that may need a quiet space when the sights and sounds in the stadium become overwhelming.

Phase 2, which is slated to be completed before the 2024 season, will top the new lower-level construction and add a press box and some spectator area.

At the end of it all, the aesthetics and overall functionality of the west end of the stadium are expected to be dramatically improved.

Coach Kirby Smart likes it.

“We’re certainly proud of (the improvements),” Smart said as the Bulldogs reconvened for preseason practice this past week. “We value fan experience; (athletic director) Josh Brooks and myself both do. … We are looking forward to those improvements, and they’re certainly needed in those areas of the stadium. So, we’re excited about those.”

Welcome back, Carter

Georgia is welcoming back former linebacker Reggie Carter, who is assuming a critical new role in the athletic department’s growing NIL operation.

Carter, who started on the Bulldogs’ 2017 Rose Bowl championship team, has joined the UGA Athletic Association as an “athlete marketing manager.” In collaboration with Altius Sports Partners (ASP) and a social media-influencer company called INFLCR, Carter is charged with helping Georgia athletes to maximize their marketing opportunities at the local, state, and national level.

Carter will work alongside UGA’s NIL director, Tanner Potts, as a liaison between athletes and potential investors and ensuring compliance while maximizing NIL opportunities. He’ll be responsible for providing day-to-day support for all of Georgia’s sports teams while also working with the Georgia Way network, the Georgia Bulldog Club and Georgia Bulldogs Sports Marketing.

“As a Georgia alum, Reggie offers our current student-athletes a unique perspective when it comes to NIL,” Brooks said. “He is someone who cares deeply about the student-athlete experience at UGA and we are thrilled to welcome him home.”

Since graduating from UGA with a degree in economics in 2017, Carter has worked as an academic advisor at Georgia Tech and Tennessee. He is originally from Snellville and graduated from South Gwinnett High School.

Walk-ons wanted

Recruiting isn’t all about signing high-level prospects and offering scholarships. Brent Key is looking for a few good walk-ons.

The first-year coach and former Tech offensive lineman wants to maintain a strong corps of young men in his program who want to be part of the team, but have to pay their own tuition.

“When I was hired that was something I wanted to make sure that we elevated, was our walk-on program, our preferred walk-on program,” Key said. “We wanted to make sure we got a group of really quality guys that, not only would be able to be a part of the team and work them in, but would have a chance to work themselves in to playing positions.”