Sports Business is Booming in Dallas
Big cities love their sports, but one city recently rose to the top of the list. In Sports Business Journal’s March 2023 ranking of the top 50 cities in the U.S. for sports business, Dallas, Texas came in at number one. Dallas has several major sports franchises, from the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, and Dallas Stars to the Dallas Jackals, Dallas Wings, and FC Dallas. Dallas will also play a role in the 2026 world cup as one of the chosen host cities.
What makes Dallas such an appealing place for sports business? One woman may have all the answers.
Suite Talk: The Business Behind Sports host, Patrick Rishe, sat down with Monica Paul, Executive Director for the Dallas Sports Commission to get all the insights into what makes Dallas the central location for sports business. And it’s not a big secret. Paul lives and breathes sports and understands why Dallas serves the sports industry so well.
“I live here, breathe it; I talk to my clients to bring sporting events into the city, and that’s our pitch,” Paul said. “Come on, this is the best sports city, and now to have others saying it based not only off of the research, but the interviews that they (Sports Business Journal) did with executives and people who do business here and throughout the United States, that was pretty special.”
Rishe and Paul discuss the many reasons why Dallas is so sports business-friendly in a conversation that includes…
● The 2023 NCAA Division 1 Women’s Final Four in Dallas that Paul played an instrumental role in bringing to the city
● Behind the scenes, the operational things that occur to make an event like the 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four go off without a hitch
● The similarities and differences between bidding on a sports event such as the Women’s Final Four vs. bidding on the World Cup
“They’re very different,” Paul said. “We’re very excited to be a host city, obviously, with a few items still up in the air in terms of the number of matches, level of matches, and those types of things, but a World Cup bid really started in 2017. In my eyes, I feel like it started back in 2010 when we were bidding on 2018 and 2022. One of the major differences is you’re not necessarily putting in all the financials and how are we going to come to do this; you’re trying to one win it for your country, in this case, North America. Once we become a host country, then it becomes what we need to do to ensure when we are on the list, continue to position ourselves for a final, a semi-final, or a large number of matches, and an international broadcast center that is very important to us.”
About Monica
Monica Paul serves as the Executive Director for the Dallas Sports Commission. She is essential in implementing bid and marketing strategies that enhance Dallas’ acquisition of sports competitions and events.
Paul served as Executive Director of the Dallas World Cup Bid Committee in 2010 and 2017. She served on or led the Local Organizing Committees for the NBA All-Star 2010, the NCAA Men’s Final Four 2014, College Football Playoff National Championship 2015, WWE WrestleMania 2016, and the 2017 NCAA Women’s Final Four. Paul holds a B.S. in Physical Education from The University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Sports Administration from the University of Northern Colorado.
