200 FEET ABOVE MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM FIELD, ATLANTA — Freddie the Falcon, the daredevil, feathered mascot of the Atlanta Falcons, strolls along the narrow walkway high above the east end zone of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Wear a Spider-Man costume, why not? – and is tied by a harness to the steel lattice that runs along the entire roof of the enormous dome.
Perched this high above the field, you can feel the house music blasting off the walkways and rails, which is deeply unsettling when those walkways and rails are the only thing separating you from the vast, enormous distance to the field far below. The knee-shaking, heart-wrapping thump of “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down will have you cursing whoever invented deep, rumbling bass lines. You look at your sneakers and the only thing between them and the seats below you is 20 stories of open air.
Freddie the Falcon, Atlanta’s longtime mascot who has developed an exciting new sense of adventure in recent seasons, is about to take to the great outdoors. Safety technicians around Freddie are confirming the safety of the harness, connections and ropes. There are no acceptable errors in this line of work. There are four hours left until kickoff and we are in the last rehearsal of a trick in the game. The seats are empty and the music has been muted, giving this huge stadium a vaguely eerie feeling.
Creepy only for some of us, at least. Strapped and ready, Freddie relaxes, then points directly at me, his huge hawk eyes holding mine.
“Do you want to be next?”
No. No, I definitely do. No I want to be the next.
“We’re ready to go,” a voice crackles into a microphone.
“Copy that,” says another, standing next to Freddie. “Send talent to the limit.”
Freddie jumps over the fence that separates him from the outdoors. You know he’s tied up, you know he’s safe, and yet the act still makes you curdle a little inside. He sits there on the beam, with his swollen yellow feet dangling over the void.
He sits there for over three minutes, waiting, waiting, waiting for his signal. And finally it arrives. The two security technicians give him the go-ahead. “Nice jump, buddy,” one says, and Freddie leans forward until gravity takes over.
So, Freddie is flying.
Freddie the Falcon wins hundreds of public appearances each year, spreading the Falcons gospel throughout Atlanta and the surrounding Falcons area. It will appear at schools, car dealerships, grand openings, maybe even a wedding or bar mitzvah; Wherever a little Falcons-related joy and inspiration is needed, Freddie brings it. He’s the reigning NFL Mascot of the Year, and it’s not just because he’s willing to throw himself from the rafters.
In recent years, Freddie’s act has gone three-dimensional (and, not coincidentally, viral) thanks to a fortunate confluence of events and locations. First, Freddie is always willing to go beyond the mascot, attempting increasingly daring stunts to entertain the Atlanta fans. Second, the Falcons organization hired an innovative mind named Kurt Wisenbaugh as Senior Director of Entertainment and Live Events. And finally, Atlanta plays in the massive Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which just so happens to have that perfect steel truss for orchestrating big stunts… like throwing a mascot off the roof.
“From a logistical and installation point of view, it’s a perfect stadium,” says Kurt. “It is a huge stadium. It is a beautiful stadium. We have the infrastructure in the steel and the catwalk, so it’s set up for us to do a lot of fun, exciting and different stunts.”
Starting in Jacksonville, where he worked with the infamously chaotic mascot Jaxon DeVille, Kurt began to see the possibilities of live, crowd-filled stunt entertainment. He spent a few years at the University of Michigan in the same role and then arrived in Atlanta in September 2021. The team had already begun looking to create bigger shows for fans, and Wisenbaugh helped push ideas through the legal aspects, necessary logistical, safety and security measures. league approvals and insurance to bring them to life, starting with the 2022 season.
“We’re always trying to create moments for the fans,” says Kurt. “We’ve always done skits on the field or in the stands, but we’re really trying to create some of that energy in the bowl, create that fear of missing out for the people watching at home, showing some of the excitement of the stadium. “
Freddie does not reveal his identity, but let’s say that a gentleman named Jeremy Legg knows Freddie’s ways extremely well, well enough to comment in detail on Freddie’s motivations, hopes and dreams. Jeremy loved watching the exploits of the San Diego Chicken while growing up in Nashville, and later donned the famous Aubie costume while a student at Auburn. He started working for the Falcons in 2004, working on the sidelines cheering on fans and tormenting referees, and then “one thing led to another, and now (Freddie is) standing on the wrong side of a perfectly good guardrail while It is tied to an elastic band. 200 feet from the field.”
Freddie flies with the help of Aerial Concepts, an entertainment company that specializes in these types of daredevil stunts. Led by Brett Rhinehardt (he’s the guy who pushed talent to the limit), Aerial Concepts works with many organizations, including several NFL teams, to create spectacular live stunts.
Brett has a lot of experience in this world; He was a mascot for many years, serving as Mr. Wolf for NC State, Muddy the Mudcat for the Carolina Mudcats, Nash for the Nashville Predators, and Mariner Moose for the Seattle Mariners. Baseball fans of a certain age will remember one of the most memorable moments of his career: that moment in 1995 when Mariner Moose broke his ankle while “skiing” behind an all-terrain vehicle. The moment was a frequent clip on “SportsCenter” and during baseball rain delays:
However, sports stunt work isn’t exactly a lifelong career, so Brett decided to transition from performing stunts to orchestrating them. He created Aerial Concepts, based in Charlotte, and has since been working with a small team to create stunts across the country.
He has found a particular connection with Freddie and the rest of the Falcons organization. “Everyone agrees 100 percent, and that’s not always the case,” he says. “It’s easy to find a team where maybe the gaming and entertainment operations department has this great idea, but the engineering department and the legal department strongly object and say, ‘That’s not what we’re doing.’ . It’s also easy to find teams that want to do a lot of things, but there may be an old outdoor stadium and there’s nothing upstairs to connect to, so we can’t do as much.”
“We all have a goal to create the best fan experience in the NFL, so it’s a big support,” Kurt says. “There is never the idea of someone just taking down right away. We have to follow the right steps, but everyone understands the vision of why we are trying to do this.”
Freddie began his stunt work with a simple zipline across the stadium, and then the events escalated. Local legend Ludacris, for example, did his own surprise trick in November 2023:
“Nobody saw it coming,” Kurt says. “It was such a shocking moment, it being the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, and he literally appears out of nowhere, performing while rappelling down.”
Not to be outdone in his own building, Freddie upped the ante earlier this year, setting a Guinness World Record for the highest drop from an indoor rope swing:
Later in the season, he zip-lined to the center of the stadium, then pulled his own bungee cord and dropped to the field below. “That made my heart race, because it was a free fall,” Kurt remembers. “We knew everything was 100 percent safe, but when you see him fall that far, it definitely makes your heart flutter.”
Which raises an interesting point: How exactly does Freddie address the height issue? Speaking from near (or far) experience, it’s a long way down, and very bad thoughts start running through your mind very quickly when you’re up there.
“If you were up there walking down the runway, you might look and say, ‘Dude, that’s a long way down.’ If I slip and fall, this will be detrimental,’” says Jeremy. “But something happens if you start putting on a harness, a gear, a mask and a helmet, and then you’re part of the system.” He points out that he has learned to breathe more slowly and, as he himself says, “to focus on the result rather than the journey.”
For his part, Brett says he never had a fear of heights, but rather “a very healthy respect.”
“To be honest, I’m leaning towards that, because it ensures that I never forget to do (security) checks two, three times. When everything starts to become too easy, too simple and regular is when accidents can happen. We lean on that nervousness. Getting to the point where you can be nervous and still feel it is a result of time and repetition.”
For the Falcons’ December game against the ChargersFreddie performed a double flight: a flight from the field to the rafters and then a bungee jump off them.
The jump is a success and Falcons fans greet Freddie warmly; no surprise, given that he’s pretty much the only reliable figure week in and week out in a Falcons uniform this season.
In the coming years, Freddie hopes to be able to change direction while moving in three dimensions, flying over crowds like a SkyCam. This requires considerable logistics and engineering experience, but is on everyone’s wish list.
“There are still a lot of options within the building structure,” says Kurt. “But we are also looking at whether we can add some kind of special effects to it. Could we add a second person?
Jeremy shares his enthusiasm and love for innovation. “What show can we offer to the fans? How do we entertain? How do we raise the bar with humor or comedy, or now with excitement or anticipation of these leaps?
For Freddie, the stunts are meant to entertain fans, yes, but there’s also something more. Without going too far with a bungee-jumping pet, Freddie’s willingness to jump into the unknown is impressive, exciting, and maybe even a little…inspiring?
“That first (trick) was definitely like, ‘What? Do you want me to put my leg over this railing? Are you crazy?’” Freddie recalls, via Jeremy. “After a little training, I finally got over that handrail. We have these opportunities and sometimes we just have to take advantage of them. “We just have to go.”