I Used to Beg Schools for Access. This Week We Got the Red Carpet.

🏀 7 Days: CBB National Championship in Indianapolis

🏇 33 Days: Kentucky Derby in Louisville

⚽ 73 Days: FIFA World Cup Kicks Off in Mexico City

Today’s Newsletter will take ≈ 4 minutes ≈ to read

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Before we get into today’s newsletter, in case you missed it…

Rory Blake Settleman was born at 8:03am on Monday, March 23rd.

I hope my absence from last week’s newsletter is excused.

Rory has changed my life and I love her so much already.

Mom and baby girl are doing great. Thanks so to everyone who has already reached out.

I will share a ton more in the future on life as a father.

But the one thing that’s become clear.

It will be very difficult to run a company and be a great father which is why I’m dedicating myself to do just that for her.

Because she deserves it as do our employees and our community.

Now, for this week’s newsletter…

The Changing of the Guard

The leverage in sports media has officially flipped on its’ head. The schools, leagues and networks that used to hold all the power? They're now pitching creators on why they need us.

Why it matters: Nine years ago, I was begging teams to give Snapback a chance. "Here's why additional distribution matters." "Here's how more attention helps you." Now? Coastal Carolina's athletic department called us, pitched us their ideas, and rolled out the red carpet like our guys were five-star recruits on an official visit.

That old version of the sports media world? It's dead.

What happened

Our team - eight people deep - spent a full week in Conway, South Carolina creating content across three events:

1. The College Gauntlet (new series)

Think Pros vs. Joes for the creator world. Our talent went head-to-head against D1 athletes in handicapped competitions.

• Beach volleyball against the D1 team? We get four players, they get two.

• We filmed seven different sports across two days

• This is a pilot. If it hits, it becomes a recurring series at schools across the country.

2. Tim & Casey threw a pass in the spring game

This one still doesn't feel real.

• Coastal suited them up in full uniforms and ran them through a professional media shoot like real recruits

• Then they threw a live pass in the actual spring game

• This has literally never been done before.

The kicker: It wasn't our idea. The school pitched it to us.

Major credit to Coastal. Not every school gets this. I'd argue most don't. Coastal Carolina gets it more than any school we've worked with. Major credit to Patrick, Chance and Mike and the rest of the Coastal team.

3. 7v7 flag football with BDGE

After the spring game, we co-produced a full 7v7 flag football game on Coastal's actual football field.

• Their video board was lit up

• Their production equipment was rolling

• It looked and felt like a real D1 event, because it basically was one

The results so far: 4.2M impressions across social media and counting. And we haven't even posted the YouTube video yet.

The bigger picture

This isn't just a Snapback story. It’s happening everywhere and here’s why you should care.