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Biography
Greg Beadles oversees all financial operations for the Atlanta Falcons organization, as well as being involved in business negotiations, strategic planning, and development for the organization. He serves as one of the team's primary liaisons with the stadium authority and oversaw the Dome renovation project.
Beadles's first experience with the Falcons was a 1995 internship in the finance department. In his 13 years in the organization, he has served as controller of the Falcon Inn & Conference Center, senior accountant, director of finance, vice president of finance, and is currently holding the title of CFO.
Beadles has also enjoyed his involvement in a number of other game day operations over the years as a member of the stats crew, video department assistant, and tracking player participation. He was a member of the team that launched the AtlantaFalcons.com website and started the club's successful online store.
Beadles earned a bachelor of science in accounting from Louisiana State University in 1991 and a master of science degree in sports administration from Georgia State University in 1995. He also holds a CPA license from the state of Georgia.
Questions
Q: The theme of this interview is "a day in the life of an NFL CFO." Given that, can you outline how you ended up in this position with the Falcons?
A: I often get the question from students or others on what is the best path to working in sports or the NFL specifically. There truly is no formula that I have seen among those I work with at the Falcons or colleagues at other teams.
No different than many sports enthusiasts, I played a number of sports growing up, including a year in small college basketball. I like to say that year helped me to understand that any future in sports for me would be outside the lines. However, I was fortunate to grow up with some behind-the-scenes experience. My father has been a college basketball coach for most of his 40+ professional years, so I grew up making road trips and recruiting visits and suffered the ups and downs that people in the sports industry all share. I think this insight aided me through the years.
I have always been interested in how businesses operate...