Why We Fought to Get the Rights to SMU
Belief in sleeping giant, familiarity with Dallas more than enough to ignore non-believers- KENT SMITH
- 14 HOURS AGO
DALLAS, Texas — We've heard it all before. The intense tone of doubt accompanied by the snickers of non-believers.
For me it began with telling people in my hometown of Warren, Arkansas, that I intended to forego the prescribed life of either working as a logging contractor or in the tomato farming business to become a journalist. People from the tiny rural town in the southeast corner of the state aren't exactly encouraged to dream big.
Two decades later, Andy Hodges and I, both from that same small town, and both who beat the odds to cover the Dallas Cowboys at points in our careers, took on another task with its long list of non-believers. No one wanted to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks for the college division of the Sports Illustrated family in August 2021. On Thanksgiving week in 2021, we met at a small Mexican restaurant in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and outlined a strict vision to success. It was a vision no one else could see.
Less than two years later, in a meeting with FanNation publishers from across the nation at both the college and NFL levels, SI executives encouraged everyone else to look at the allHogs site, a regular in and around the Top 10 of all college sites on the second most viewed sports media platform in the United States. After one publisher expressed he was tired of being asked to look at the Arkansas site every time something came up, one of the gentlemen in charge replied "Who the [expletive] cares about Arkansas football? Yet, there they are, so they must be doing something right."
Roughly a year ago, we turned our eyes on SMU. If we could build Arkansas into a highly successful platform, then we could do the same with the Mustangs. We started looking for ideas on how to convince the people within Arena Group, the parent company to Sports Illustrated and, thus, FanNation, it was worth taking a risk. No one had dared take on a non-Power Five program. The belief was strong that the Mustangs were a sleeping giant, and soon, given their geographic location and financial backing, their chance was going to come. There was just too much shifting among conferences and too many donors with real national power for SMU to not be involved.
Finally, when word came down the ACC was willing to allow the Mustangs to hop on the train as the central stop connecting the East and West Coasts, the decision was quickly made to make a push for SMU.
The response was what we expected. No one really thought we were serious.
We made our case, explaining our sleeping giant theory while also noting we already had an office in the Dallas area used to cover the large number of Arkansas fans who live in DFW, recruiting and the Razorbacks' regular appearances in the area for games. Everything was already in place, plus, Hodges and I already know the Park Cities fairly well. No one else within the company understands "The Bubble" and all that comes with it.
Eventually the laughs and rolling eyes gave way to the realization we were serious about acquiring the rights to cover SMU and it wasn't something we were willing to let go. If we had a dollar for every time we were asked if we were certain we could afford to park at AT&T Stadium on Sundays for at least the first half of the Cowboys' season. No one could believe anyone was willing to take this much of a risk on SMU.
Doubting our sanity, there was a need for proof this could be successful. There was room for a lot of talk regarding potential weeks each season writing about games against Clemson and Florida State football or Duke and North Carolina basketball, but we had something more solid. Proof of how much we truly believe in the Mustangs' potential as an athletic program and that people are willing to read about SMU. Real numbers that show a solid following can be created.
The day the ACC took in the Mustangs, I wrote the following story. Almost immediately, roughly 50,000 people in and around Dallas gave it a read. That was enough to end the snickers for good and we got our contract. For those who didn't get a chance to read it, below is your opportunity. We've proven to the people who needed to know how much we believe in what's happening in the Park Cities and around Dallas. Now we need the SMU fans to understand how much we believe in the product that will grow over the next few years.
Hopefully, after reading how this all came about, and also the piece below, fans will realize how serious we are. We're not the bandwagon people who will come later on. We hope Mustang supporters from across the country and fans of the teams they face will join us on this ride as we build this division of our company while documenting the upcoming journey for SMU from its beginning.
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