Pitch to Pro
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United FC. This will be our platform to tell our story about the club and the special place that we call home, Northwest Arkansas. This is a journey. We want to bring you along for the ride. We'll share what's going on behind the curtain, help educate the community at large about soccer, Our league, and give updates on the progress of the club along the way.
Together, we'll explore and unpack our journey to professional soccer, the magic that is NWA, our community, and talk all things soccer from on the pitch to behind the scenes, telling the story of our club.
Pitch to Pro
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.
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the Pitch to Pro podcast. This is a highlight reel of some of the best moments from the show so far, and every other week we will be bringing you a special five to seven minute segment featuring the best stories, tales and moments of the podcast.
Speaker 2:From your lens. I don't know how much you are watching or involved or not in the pro sports landscape, but as somebody who deals with large amounts of capital and handling that and watching deal flow and all of those things in the VC world and being an entrepreneur and investor, speak a little bit about, if you can, anything that you have seen from pro sports and maybe soccer in general from that lens.
Speaker 3: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 look at what Jerry Jones did with the Cowboys and I don't have these numbers memorized, but I think he put $250 million, which people thought was insane when he did it and I think it's one of the most valuable pro sports franchises in the world, Probably worth somewhere north of $6 billion just guessing.
Speaker 2:maybe even more, maybe it's even close to 10. Yeah, I think the last number I saw was like nine, 9.3 or something like that.
Speaker 3:And as it relates to soccer, 10. Yeah, I think the last number I saw was like nine, 9.3 or something like that. You know, and so, and as it relates to soccer, one of the things I think is super interesting to watch the growth is that you know you had I'm almost 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 high schools had soccer teams, but plenty of people that I know that are my age went to places that didn't have soccer teams. Now, that's not true today. I'm sure there's high schools in Arkansas that don't have soccer, but the vast majority of high schools all over the United States have soccer teams, and most people that are younger generations played FIFA on an Xbox. They can tell you who Messi is, even if they don't love soccer. Right, they still have some sort of working knowledge. If I went back to when I first started working in the 80s, if you had suggested at that time, let's take a customer out to a soccer game, that would not have been a thing. First off, you couldn't have done it. But let's just say you could have done it. You wouldn't have had guys that were running the things back then, the 56-year-olds then would 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 in terms of how people think about what they want to do and spend their time. But if we look at the MLS, or even the secondary leagues, the USL, et cetera, these franchises have started off, you know, at small dollars. You could get into the MLS for 10 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 they used a lot of public money on the stadium but I could be wrong on that, and you know. And they're doing it because they look at it and go this is the new frontier, you know, you know, and so I think it's super interesting in that regard.
Speaker 3:Let me say one other thing, too. I think it's interesting as it relates to Arkansas, and this is true for me in a business sense, but I think it's true in sports too. I think that, you know, look, if we could go leap forward 20 years in time and reflect back on today, right, and we just think like what decisions could we make with, let's just say, broadly, we're the governor of Arkansas with all sorts of powers. Let's say, and we can wave magic wands what would be some of the things that we would do today that would set up Arkansas to be one of the best states in the United States? I think one of the things that we would do is have pro sports.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because pro sports attract people to their neck of the woods, and I think that a soccer team makes a lot of sense, and at least soccer even if we're saying okay and turning it into more common language for people the minor leagues or the second league, right, but it is one of the few sports where you could move up to the big times, right, it's got a possibility that doesn't exist in minor league baseball, right, it's not really a thing for basketball, nor is it really a thing for football, right, and so it is the gateway for us. So, not only is it, it's good for Arkansas, it's a sport with a lot of trends. You know, it's something that you know, um, that we probably need, if you were looking out 20 years and that's such a huge thing.
Speaker 2:I mean even you know the Walmart uh local headquarter associate survey. You know, one of the most popular 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 right, they just are the largest, probably the largest employer here in the state, but at least in Northwest Arkansas with their headquarter campus. And they what do you wish you had? Here Pro sports in their survey with the associates for the last several years.
Speaker 3:It's, it's, it's. It really is important for the state.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for this stoppage time special of the Pitch to Pro podcast. If you've enjoyed the conversation, you can click watch the full episode here. Be sure to tune in next Thursday for a new episode of the Pitch to Pro podcast, the official podcast of Ozark United FC, available on YouTube, instagram and everywhere you get your podcasts.