Aspirations to be the best

Tim Darnell

May 1, 2008

Most recently, of course, Bernie Mullin was the CEO of Atlanta Spirit LLC, the highly disjointed ownership group of the Thrashers and Hawks. After a mutual parting, Mullin's new venture, The Aspire Group, will deal with the business support side, marketing, improving fan satisfaction and other team-related services.

Aspire Group's contract with the National Hockey League calls for it to work the league's new club consulting office. Mullin was instrumental in starting a similar office in the National Basketball Association.

"Basically, we're a portal, offering access to all of the best-in-class professionals whom I've met throughout my career," Mullin says. "We offer plans and strategies on how to develop sales teams, branding, ticket sales teams ...

"When I knew I was leaving the Spirit, my wife and I sat down and asked, what do we want. I wanted to get back into baseball, hockey or basketball, or combined; I wanted to work for an owner with whom I had a good rapport and who had been in business for a long time, and who had a history of letting his people run the business; and I didn't want to go to a team at the bottom that was facing a five-year rebuilding process. When it came to working for someone else, it was like landing a helicopter on a postage stamp."

Today, Mullin looks to build an agency "based in Atlanta, with some employees, and one that has a balance between retainer-based clients and properties in which we're involved."