The Braves and Falcons couldn’t be on more different paths. The Atlanta Baseball Club just wrapped up a World Series and has MLB’s best young core locked down for most of the next decade. The Battery and Truist Park are constantly crowded, even on weekdays. And it couldn’t be further from the Falcons’ position.

The city’s football team has been the laughingstock of the NFL since its arrival in 1965 and especially since its collapse in Super Bowl LI. Plus, Mercedes Benz Stadium is constantly packed with as many fans representing the opposing team as the hometown Falcons, and now they’re catching stray Alex Anthopoulos.

Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos on a consistent win:

“I remember seeing Mercedes Benz half empty in the middle of a season and the Atlanta Falcons were playing the Super Bowl two years earlier…it was an eye opener” pic.twitter.com/Bdib3hufd8

— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) August 17, 2022

Much like the Braves did when hiring Alex Anthopoulos, the Falcons are rebuilding in hopes that Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot are the right men for the job. Winning is a panacea. AA is correct in its assessment of the average Atlanta sports fan.

Usually (not all) they aren’t diehard, don’t fully support their favorite team during dark times, but come back when they’re good. Right now, we’re in the good old days for the Braves. Even if they don’t win a championship this season, they will be competing for the rest of the decade. And Braves Country makes all of these lucrative deals possible through their financial support — tickets, merchandise sales, and more. – because Liberty Media essentially prints money.

For the Falcons, they have to hemorrhage money. The handful of games I’ve attended in recent years have been a great experience. Mercedes Benz Stadium and Home Depot Grounds are great places to catch a football game, but the stadium is always half full, sometimes with Falcons fans outnumbering opposing fans. Arthur Blank insists on outrageously expensive PSL tickets, but that’s only part of the problem. If the Falcons won, this stadium would be full.

Alex Anthopoulos is absolutely right about this sports city. Fans are absolutely amazing when there is a consistent winning product; otherwise, it may be the opposite. The Falcons are going through dark times right now, and they’re probably not going to end anytime soon. Let’s hope Blank got the latest executive hires right and they bring the Atlanta Football Club back to relevance.

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David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire

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