Stoppage Time Special: How Sports Teams Became Gold Mines

Welcome to this Stoppage Time edition of the Pitch to Pro Podcast — a fast-paced highlight from last week’s full episode. In this five-minute segment, we explore how professional sports have transformed into one of the most lucrative investment landscapes in modern business.

From Jerry Jones’ once-controversial $250 million purchase of the Dallas Cowboys — now valued in the billions — to the $500 million MLS expansion in San Diego, this episode reveals just how high the stakes have become in the sports world.

But the conversation goes deeper. We shift focus to Arkansas and ask a bold question: Could soccer be the key to unlocking the state’s next wave of growth? With shifting cultural attitudes, widespread youth participation, and growing demand from major employers like Walmart, the timing might be perfect for Arkansas to enter the pro sports arena.

Whether you’re into venture capital, economic development, or just a fan of the beautiful game, this is a thought-provoking segment that shows how sports can shape the future of a region.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the
Pitch to Pro podcast.
This is a highlight reel ofsome of the best moments from
the show so far, and every otherweek we will be bringing you a
special five to seven minutesegment featuring the best
stories, tales and moments ofthe podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
From your lens.
I don't know how much you arewatching or involved or not in
the pro sports landscape, but assomebody who deals with large
amounts of capital and handlingthat and watching deal flow and
all of those things in the VCworld and being an entrepreneur
and investor, speak a little bitabout, if you can, anything

(00:43):
that you have seen from prosports and maybe soccer in
general from that lens.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's been an incredible transformation in pro
sports over the last 30 years.
No doubt about it.
And who would have dreamed?
Even if we go back and we lookat what Jerry Jones did with the
Cowboys and I don't have thesenumbers memorized, but I think
he put $250 million, whichpeople thought was insane when
he did it and I think it's oneof the most valuable pro sports

(01:12):
franchises in the world,Probably worth somewhere north
of $6 billion just guessing.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
maybe even more, maybe it's even close to 10.
Yeah, I think the last number Isaw was like nine, 9.3 or
something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
And as it relates to soccer, 10.
Yeah, I think the last number Isaw was like nine, 9.3 or
something like that.
You know, and so, and as itrelates to soccer, one of the
things I think is superinteresting to watch the growth
is that you know you had I'malmost I'm closing in on 60.
And when I was in high school,both high schools that I went to
I went to two different highschools had soccer teams, but

(01:45):
plenty of people that I knowthat are my age went to places
that didn't have soccer teams.
Now, that's not true today.
I'm sure there's high schoolsin Arkansas that don't have
soccer, but the vast majority ofhigh schools all over the
United States have soccer teams,and most people that are
younger generations played FIFAon an Xbox.

(02:06):
They can tell you who Messi is,even if they don't love soccer.
Right, they still have somesort of working knowledge.
If I went back to when I firststarted working in the 80s, if
you had suggested at that time,let's take a customer out to a
soccer game, that would not havebeen a thing.
First off, you couldn't havedone it.
But let's just say you couldhave done it.

(02:26):
You wouldn't have had guys thatwere running the things back
then, the 56-year-olds thenwould have been like yeah, no,
we're not going to do that.
That's not true today, right?
So that's a big change just interms of how people think about
what they want to do and spendtheir time.
But if we look at the MLS, oreven the secondary leagues, the

(02:48):
USL, et cetera, these franchiseshave started off, you know, at
small dollars.
You could get into the MLS for10 million bucks, you know.
Not even that long ago Today,though, I think, san Diego, you
know, I think they had to put$500 million up and build a
stadium, and I don't think theyused a lot of public money on

(03:09):
the stadium but I could be wrongon that, and you know.
And they're doing it becausethey look at it and go this is
the new frontier, you know, youknow, and so I think it's super
interesting in that regard.
Let me say one other thing, too.
I think it's interesting as itrelates to Arkansas, and this is
true for me in a business sense, but I think it's true in

(03:30):
sports too.
I think that, you know, look,if we could go leap forward 20
years in time and reflect backon today, right, and we just
think like what decisions couldwe make with, let's just say,
broadly, we're the governor ofArkansas with all sorts of
powers.

(03:50):
Let's say, and we can wavemagic wands what would be some
of the things that we would dotoday that would set up Arkansas
to be one of the best states inthe United States?
I think one of the things thatwe would do is have pro sports.
Yeah, because pro sports attractpeople to their neck of the
woods, and I think that a soccerteam makes a lot of sense, and

(04:13):
at least soccer even if we'resaying okay and turning it into
more common language for peoplethe minor leagues or the second
league, right, but it is one ofthe few sports where you could
move up to the big times, right,it's got a possibility that
doesn't exist in minor leaguebaseball, right, it's not really

(04:35):
a thing for basketball, nor isit really a thing for football,
right, and so it is the gatewayfor us.
So, not only is it, it's goodfor Arkansas, it's a sport with
a lot of trends.
You know, it's something thatyou know, um, that we probably
need, if you were looking out 20years and that's such a huge
thing.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean even you know the Walmart uh local headquarter
associate survey.
You know, one of the mostpopular things uh over the last
several years has been you know,what are we missing?
What do you wish you had?
And this is, you know, I think,evident and showcasing across

(05:18):
right, they just are the largest, probably the largest employer
here in the state, but at leastin Northwest Arkansas with their
headquarter campus.
And they what do you wish youhad?
Here Pro sports in their surveywith the associates for the
last several years.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
It's, it's, it's.
It really is important for thestate.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Thank you for joining us for this stoppage time
special of the Pitch to Propodcast.
If you've enjoyed theconversation, you can click
watch the full episode here.
Be sure to tune in nextThursday for a new episode of
the Pitch to Pro podcast, theofficial podcast of Ozark United
FC, available on YouTube,instagram and everywhere you get
your podcasts.