Eric Sudol, VP, Corporate Partnership Sales & Service for the Dallas Cowboys, gave an overview of the Cowboys’ new Star headquarters and then spotlighted the team’s partnership with the Texas Lottery.
Using a book metaphor, Sidol examined the “chapters of our partnership”—Chapter 1: the start/introduction, why partner (audience, engagement, effectiveness), the overall game plan, activation/Draft Day, wild weekend, training camp, ticket and results.”
Chapter 2 examined why an organization like the Texas Lottery would want to partner, alignment of goals and economics for partners, overall game plan, activation (entitlement, Cowboys U, fitness and results.
Following the formal presentation, Sidol and Grief were interviewed about why the Texas Lottery took the next big step in 2016 with a key sponsorship at the Cowboys’ new state-of-the-art facility.
“The Star is a 91-acre facility. The Texas lottery brand is everywhere,” said Sidol. “We are making an investment in the future Dallas Cowboy fan. That is what the Texas lottery is doing the same for the future.”
“It was perfect synergy for the Texas lottery to partner with the Dallas Cowboys,” concurred Grief. “The Jones family has put the best people possible in every position in the organization. You can’t begin to gauge the value of the Cowboys ticket in dollars sold or number in impressions. The true value is in associating with a world class brand like the Dallas Cowboys—elevating your brand to that level with the brands that associate, firms like Ford and Dr. Pepper who also work with the Cowboys. That is where we see the lift in the chatter in the player world.”
“I tell everybody I am in the business of integrity statements,” said Sidol. “There are very few things that engage the public like sports. The NFL is by far the best. We have to continue to push our thinking on what we can do.”
The Texas Lottery’s goal for the partnership is ambitious. “The Star is going to be a world-class destination. The hope is that we will become more ingrained into the millennial society. The Texas lottery will be part of their lives,” said Grief.
He ended noting that the first thing visitors see when they walk into the Star is the monument that details the Texas Lottery’s contribution to education.
Grief encouraged other U.S. lotteries to share best practices. “The great thing about the lottery industry is that many lotteries are working with their NFL teams,” he said. “I am always looking at how other teams are leveraging their relationships with the teams. We can take the best ideas and adapt them to us.”
