Atlanta United FC owner Arthur Blank gets ESPN’s Sports Philanthropist of the Year Award

ATLANTA, GEORGIA—For his one-of-a-kind philanthropic heart, Atlanta United FC owner Arthur M. Blank was awarded the prestigious ESPN’s Sports Philanthropist of the Year Award in the Seventh Annual Sports Humanitarian Awards Monday night in New York City.
According to the website of Atlanta United FC, the award highlighted the recent philanthropic work of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation (AMBFF) and Blank’s Family of Businesses (BFOB) that includes: the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United; the nationwide PGA TOUR Superstore; Mercedes-Benz Stadium(MBS); and three ranches in Montana.
In addition to the individual businesses’ philanthropic efforts, over the last year Blank and the Blank Family Foundation have committed more than $300 million in grants. This includes a $200 million grant to develop the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Arthur M. Blank Hospital, the largest donation in Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta history, and the single largest naming gift to a freestanding pediatric hospital; a $20 million legacy grant to establish the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research at the University of Texas at Austin – a cause that is personal to Blank himself; a COVID-19 relief pledge of $5.4 million in Atlanta, Montana and abroad; a $50 million grant to Babson College, Blank’s alma mater, to establish the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership; a five-year, $17 million grant to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta, as part of The Center’s capital expansion to add 20,000 square feet to the existing footprint and transform its programming; and a $9.5 million grant from PGA TOUR Superstore and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation to First Tee, an organization dedicated to helping youth stay active and build character through golf. He also dedicated the proceeds from his recently released memoir, Good Company, to the National Center for Civil and Human rights in perpetuity.
Blank is very happy, proud, and grateful for the latest accolade given to him.
“This is a tremendous honor, but it belongs to my dear family and our associates with the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, PGA TOUR Superstore, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, our ranches in Montana, and our Family Foundation,” Blank said.
When we simplify what it means to give back, it’s neighbors helping neighbors and friends helping friends, that is humanitarian work in its purest, and perhaps most powerful form,” Blank added.