Atlanta Falcons

Atlanta Falcons
Current season
Established June 30, 1965 (June 30, 1965)[1]
First season: 1966
Play in Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, Georgia
Headquartered in Flowery Branch, Georgia[2]
Atlanta Falcons logo
Atlanta Falcons logo
Atlanta Falcons wordmark
Atlanta Falcons wordmark
LogoWordmark
League/conference affiliations

National Football League (1966–present)

Current uniform
Team colorsBlack, red, silver, white[3][4][5]
       
MascotFreddie Falcon
Personnel
Owner(s)Arthur Blank
CEORich McKay
PresidentRich McKay
General managerTerry Fontenot
Head coachRaheem Morris
Team history
  • Atlanta Falcons (1966–present)
Team nicknames
  • The Dirty Birds
  • Grits Blitz (1977 defense)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (2)
Division championships (6)
Playoff appearances (14)
Home fields

The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons were founded on June 30, 1965, and joined the NFL in 1966[6] as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a franchise to keep him from joining the rival American Football League (AFL).

In their 57 years of existence, the Falcons have compiled a record of 390–503–6 (380–489–6 in the regular season and 10–14 in the playoffs), winning division championships in 1980, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2016. The Falcons have appeared in two Super Bowls, the first during the 1998 season in Super Bowl XXXIII, where they lost to the Denver Broncos 34–19,[7] and the second 18 years later, a 34–28 overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. They are the oldest major professional sports team in America with no championships.[8]

The Falcons' current home field is Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened for the 2017 season; the team's headquarters and practice facilities are located at a 50-acre (20 ha) site in Flowery Branch,[9] northeast of Atlanta in Hall County.

  1. ^ "Atlanta Falcons Team History". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  2. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". AtlantaFalcons.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  3. ^ "Atlanta Falcons go back to black, unveil new uniforms". AtlantaFalcons.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. April 8, 2020. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  4. ^ Bergman, Jeremy (April 8, 2020). "Falcons unveil new uniforms, helmet ahead of 2020". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  5. ^ "Atlanta Falcons Team Capsule" (PDF). 2021 Official National Football League Record and Fact Book (PDF). NFL Enterprises, LLC. August 11, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  6. ^ "Team History" (PDF). 2022 Atlanta Falcons Media Guide. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Hubbuch, Bart (January 7, 2012). "Queens-born owner models Falcons after hometown team". New York Post. Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  8. ^ "Falcons are oldest major sports franchise without a league championship after Rangers' World Series win". cbssports.com. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  9. ^ "Atlanta Falcons Corporate Headquarters and Training Facility". claycorp.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2016.