Atlanta wants second chance at Super Bowl

Published on: 08/25/05

State leaders are gearing up for another shot at winning a Super Bowl for Atlanta.

After being the runner-up for the 2009 Super Bowl, which was awarded to Tampa, Atlanta's prospects of hosting a Super Bowl in the near future seemed dim.

But then New York's plans to build a new stadium for the Jets fell through — as did the promise to hold the 2010 Super Bowl in the Big Apple. The National Football League decided a couple of weeks ago to reopen the bidding for the 2010 Super Bowl.

"If we have the opportunity to rebid, we will do so," said Dick Anderson, who is co-chairman of the 2009 Atlanta Super Bowl Bid Committee and vice chairman of planning and administration for BellSouth. "I think we had an excellent bid and a high-quality presentation."

The NFL owners' Super Bowl advisory committee will meet in the next couple of weeks to decide how to award the 2010 event. One option would be to ask the three losing cities for 2009 — Atlanta, Miami and Houston — to recertify their original bids for 2010. Another option would be to start over and open it up to other cities.

That committee likely will make a recommendation at the mid-September NFL owners meeting, and a final decision could come as early as the owners meeting in late October.

"If we are given the opportunity to recertify, we are very interested in doing so," said Kim Shreckengost, an executive with Atlanta Falcons' owner Arthur Blank and a member of the 2009 bid committee.

High Museum chief declines job offer

Atlanta came close to losing one of its top arts leaders. Michael Shapiro, the director of the High Museum of Art, was offered the top job at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Shapiro, who recently turned down the Cleveland post, called the offer "flattering."

But he quickly added: "I'm absolutely committed to the High and to Atlanta and creating the first great American art museum of the 21st century."

Shapiro said it's an "extraordinary time" for the High, which will open its expanded campus in November. "We have great new challenges here," Shapiro said. "I don't need to relocate to find new challenges."

NSI left building, but it's not empty

Fifteen years ago, Erwin Zaban built a new home for his company — National Service Industries — at Pershing Point in Midtown.

Today, the only lasting legacy of NSI in that building is a retirement office for Zaban, who just turned 84, and former NSI executive Harry Maziar.

"I come in every morning that I'm in town," Zaban said earlier this week. "I still enjoy coming in."

But the company he used to run has changed radically from when he was chief executive officer. The holding company was split, with the chemical and lighting division becoming Acuity Brands. The linen and envelope business, still known as NSI, is privately owned by two brothers from San Diego — Michael and Richard Kelly.

Holding down the fort in Atlanta is Carol Morgan, NSI's president, who has been busy renovating the company's new headquarters in Doraville.

"We are combining two of our facilities and making what we think is the largest laundry in North America," Morgan said of the new 240,000-square-foot plant, which also houses NSI's corporate offices.

"It was hard for all of us to move from the NSI building and from Midtown," Morgan said. "But this has turned out to be perfect for our laundry."

Woodruff Foundation fuels brand effort

It turns out that the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation is the big backer of the Brand Atlanta campaign — a strategy to market Atlanta to the rest of the world. The foundation has provided $1.5 million of the $1.9 million raised to come up with the creative effort. The Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau is contributing $150,000, and the city of Atlanta has pledged $250,000 to the effort.

"This is a time to make hay when you have got the kind of leadership Mayor Shirley Franklin is providing," said Pete McTier, president of the foundation. "It is not myopic. It does take into account the entire region because we are all in it together."

Coke exec hosts lunch to help hospital

The $230 million fund-raising campaign for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta will get a corporate boost today when Coca-Cola executive Ingrid Saunders Jones hosts a kickoff lunch for potential donors.

Already the children's hospital has raised $176 million of its goal, but that means it still needs to raise $54 million.

By the way, $30 million of the goal is dedicated to the Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital, which currently is affiliated with Grady Memorial Hospital. That part of the campaign is now up to $28.2 million, and Children's Healthcare has pledged to turn Hughes Spalding into a top-quality pediatric hospital.