As Rich McKay exits the Falcons, will he remain on the Competition Committee?

Last Monday night, Rich McKay had a dead-center seat for a Monday night win over the Rams, between owner Arthur Blank and G.M. Terry Fontenot.

Today, McKay exited the position of Falcons CEO.

Officially, it ends his 23-year tenure with the team. He served as the General Manager from 2003 through 2008. In 2008, with the hiring of Thomas Dimitroff, McKay graduated to the role of president/CEO. After the team's current stadium was launched, McKay became more involved (again) on the football side.

Advertisement

He remained the president and CEO until 2023, when Greg Beadles became the team president. As CEO, McKay remained responsible for the football operations. A year later, he exited day-to-day football operations of the Falcons, retaining the position of CEO and adding the title of CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment.

Now, McKay will work solely as the CEO of AMBSE, with Beadles becoming CEO of the Falcons. Said Blank in the letter explaining the latest changes, "Rich will now be able to give full focus to critical AMBSE initiatives including: major events on the near horizon for Atlanta with the 2026 FIFA World Cup and NFL's 2028 Super Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS); renovations to MBS and construction of a world-class training facility for AMBSE's new NWSL franchise and the launch of that team coming in 2028; and other business development and organizational projects in various stages of planning."

The end result is that McKay no longer works in any capacity for the Atlanta Falcons. Which raises an obvious question: Will he continue to serve as chairman of the Competition Committee?

He no longer works for the NFL's Falcons. If he doesn't work for the Falcons, it no longer makes sense for him to have a role that is so central to the ongoing effort to tweak the NFL's rules and policies.

Advertisement

There had already been rumblings that McKay's 30-year run on the Competition Committee would be soon ending. Some in league circles have said they'll believe it when they see it, mainly because McKay's influence at the league level inures to the benefit of the Falcons — and because (as some believe) McKay coordinates closely with the league office when it comes to selecting the various rules and policies that will be targeted for tweaking.

Of course, now that the league office has begun recruiting specific teams to make proposals that may otherwise stall in the Competition Committee (e.g., the Lions' proposal to change playoff seeding and the Packers' proposal to scrap the tush push), it's possible that the Commissioner and his lieutenants can push their agendas without pulling the strings of the Competition Committee.

Regardless, McKay's official exit from the Falcons leads directly to the question of whether it makes sense for him to serve on the Competition Committee, as chairman or otherwise.

If he still does, is he truly not working for the Falcons?