AT&T's move to Dallas should wake up Cowboys fans
San Antonio Business Journal - by W. Scott Bailey
Sometimes you have to feel a loss to experience a gain.
Let's hope that's the case with the departure of AT&T Inc.'s corporate headquarters.
The telecom giant may have hung up on San Antonio.
But that blow might help us make an important connection.
For years, many in this city have been consumed with Dallas' NFL team.
That fascination with another city's football franchise has done nothing to help San Antonio gain its own.
On Dec. 24, 2005, San Antonio put more than 60,000 warm bodies inside the Alamodome for a regular season NFL finale featuring the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions, a pair of teams with miserable records.
For the first time, there were national conversations about San Antonio and the NFL that had nothing to do with the Dallas Cowboys.
Then, less than three months later, San Antonio city officials took the game ball and handed it to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones -- along with a five-year deal to train in the nation's seventh largest city.
Jones, who desperately wants this market for his team, is probably still laughing.
San Antonio fumbled away any momentum it had generated in successfully hosting three regular season NFL games. And Jones got to re-establish a Cowboys presence on San Antonio turf.
Dallas came away with a victory.
San Antonio managed to reposition itself as little more than a training camp town.
If ever a city took one step forward and four steps back, it was in 2006.
Henry Cisneros took the momentum and the chips he had built up as mayor of San Antonio and -- against an army of critics and naysayers -- leveraged it into the construction of the 65,000-seat Alamodome.
His vision for San Antonio included the NFL.
The Cowboys' vision, according to Cisneros: "Postpone the day when we have our own NFL team."
Soon after the training camp deal was announced in 2006, Cisneros told this columnist: "Cities are, in a way, like kingdoms. Why San Antonians would want to be a cultural colony of another city, I don't understand. But it is antithetical to our ambition to be our own identity on the global scene."
Global is a word that has been used in the discussions about why AT&T has elected to pull up its San Antonio roots and move to Dallas.
Company officials say AT&T needed to have better access to the rest of the world.
Cisneros doesn't believe San Antonio is too small for AT&T or the NFL.
But he has suggested that the Alamo City has at times managed to diminish its own self worth.
"Every time we reject the opportunity to create our own cultural presence with our own San Antonio NFL team because we have loyalty to another city's team -- it just says 'little league,' " Cisneros told the Business Journal back in 2006.
Separation anxiety
Losing AT&T will reinforce in some people's minds an image of San Antonio as a small town.
But it could also be a blessing in disguise if enough people, especially those we consider our leaders, can connect the dots.
The fact that Dallas has forever snubbed its nose at San Antonio was never enough to turn fans here against the Cowboys.
But now that Dallas has taken from us one of our most important companies and at least 700 jobs, maybe San Antonio will start to come to its senses.
It never benefited us to support Dallas' NFL team.
Now, after that city took one of our mega corporations, there is one less reason for us to do anything that benefits Dallas or its Cowboys.
AT&T is considered by some the odds-on favorite to attach its name to the Cowboys' new billion dollar stadium.
If that happens, the connection between the team and the telecom company will be impossible to ignore.
Might that hammer home to some in this city who still don't get it that the last place on earth we should support is Dallas?
We can't win back AT&T. But we can win back some respect.
So to those in San Antonio who are still not convinced, who still think it makes sense to live vicariously through Dallas and its NFL team, consider this: When you put on that Cowboys jersey or cap this season, remember AT&T.
And understand this: For years, we have given and Dallas has taken.
We're smarter than that.
If ever there was a time to remind ourselves and the rest of the world of that fact, it is now.
We don't need Dallas.
We don't need the Cowboys.
We can be great without them.
Perhaps AT&T, as it packs it bags, will help awaken this sleeping giant.
Cheap Seats
The University Co-op, a nonprofit retailer owned by University of Texas at Austin students, faculty and staff, plans to set up shop in San Antonio. The retailer, which sells UT Longhorns merchandise, says it will lease some 5,000 square feet of space in Alamo Quarry Market.
This marks the first time the retailer has expanded into a market outside Austin that is home to a UT System Division I athletic program. And it represents another challenge for University of Texas at San Antonio officials who have worked overtime to build up the Roadrunners' image, respect and support in this city.
"This is a major city and so I guess they see San Antonio as fair game," says UT-San Antonio Athletic Director Lynn Hickey. "We just have to keep working ... ."
Sometimes you have to feel a loss to experience a gain.
Let's hope that's the case with the departure of AT&T Inc.'s corporate headquarters.
The telecom giant may have hung up on San Antonio.
But that blow might help us make an important connection.
For years, many in this city have been consumed with Dallas' NFL team.
That fascination with another city's football franchise has done nothing to help San Antonio gain its own.
On Dec. 24, 2005, San Antonio put more than 60,000 warm bodies inside the Alamodome for a regular season NFL finale featuring the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions, a pair of teams with miserable records.
For the first time, there were national conversations about San Antonio and the NFL that had nothing to do with the Dallas Cowboys.
Then, less than three months later, San Antonio city officials took the game ball and handed it to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones -- along with a five-year deal to train in the nation's seventh largest city.
Jones, who desperately wants this market for his team, is probably still laughing.
San Antonio fumbled away any momentum it had generated in successfully hosting three regular season NFL games. And Jones got to re-establish a Cowboys presence on San Antonio turf.
Dallas came away with a victory.
San Antonio managed to reposition itself as little more than a training camp town.
If ever a city took one step forward and four steps back, it was in 2006.
Henry Cisneros took the momentum and the chips he had built up as mayor of San Antonio and -- against an army of critics and naysayers -- leveraged it into the construction of the 65,000-seat Alamodome.
His vision for San Antonio included the NFL.
The Cowboys' vision, according to Cisneros: "Postpone the day when we have our own NFL team."
Soon after the training camp deal was announced in 2006, Cisneros told this columnist: "Cities are, in a way, like kingdoms. Why San Antonians would want to be a cultural colony of another city, I don't understand. But it is antithetical to our ambition to be our own identity on the global scene."
Global is a word that has been used in the discussions about why AT&T has elected to pull up its San Antonio roots and move to Dallas.
Company officials say AT&T needed to have better access to the rest of the world.
Cisneros doesn't believe San Antonio is too small for AT&T or the NFL.
But he has suggested that the Alamo City has at times managed to diminish its own self worth.
"Every time we reject the opportunity to create our own cultural presence with our own San Antonio NFL team because we have loyalty to another city's team -- it just says 'little league,' " Cisneros told the Business Journal back in 2006.
Separation anxiety
Losing AT&T will reinforce in some people's minds an image of San Antonio as a small town.
But it could also be a blessing in disguise if enough people, especially those we consider our leaders, can connect the dots.
The fact that Dallas has forever snubbed its nose at San Antonio was never enough to turn fans here against the Cowboys.
But now that Dallas has taken from us one of our most important companies and at least 700 jobs, maybe San Antonio will start to come to its senses.
It never benefited us to support Dallas' NFL team.
Now, after that city took one of our mega corporations, there is one less reason for us to do anything that benefits Dallas or its Cowboys.
AT&T is considered by some the odds-on favorite to attach its name to the Cowboys' new billion dollar stadium.
If that happens, the connection between the team and the telecom company will be impossible to ignore.
Might that hammer home to some in this city who still don't get it that the last place on earth we should support is Dallas?
We can't win back AT&T. But we can win back some respect.
So to those in San Antonio who are still not convinced, who still think it makes sense to live vicariously through Dallas and its NFL team, consider this: When you put on that Cowboys jersey or cap this season, remember AT&T.
And understand this: For years, we have given and Dallas has taken.
We're smarter than that.
If ever there was a time to remind ourselves and the rest of the world of that fact, it is now.
We don't need Dallas.
We don't need the Cowboys.
We can be great without them.
Perhaps AT&T, as it packs it bags, will help awaken this sleeping giant.
Cheap Seats
The University Co-op, a nonprofit retailer owned by University of Texas at Austin students, faculty and staff, plans to set up shop in San Antonio. The retailer, which sells UT Longhorns merchandise, says it will lease some 5,000 square feet of space in Alamo Quarry Market.
This marks the first time the retailer has expanded into a market outside Austin that is home to a UT System Division I athletic program. And it represents another challenge for University of Texas at San Antonio officials who have worked overtime to build up the Roadrunners' image, respect and support in this city.
"This is a major city and so I guess they see San Antonio as fair game," says UT-San Antonio Athletic Director Lynn Hickey. "We just have to keep working ... ."
posted by The Gryphon at 6:55 PM
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