FRISCO, Texas — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Dude Perfect LLC will continue its expansion in Frisco with a new 80,000-square-foot video production studio.
CEO Andrew Yaffe announced the project during the Venture Dallas conference on Oct. 30 at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on Southern Methodist University's campus. Yaffe joined Dude Perfect, known for its viral trick shot videos, earlier in the month.
Dude Perfect plans to use the space as its new video production hub for its YouTube channel, which has more than 60 million subscribers. The company started in 2009 as a group of five friends at Texas A&M University who made videos of trick shots, such as scoring a basketball from the third deck of Kyle Field. Dude Perfect's videos have amassed more than 17 billion views and the business has grown to include other ventures such as live tours, toys and books and even television deals.
The new facility will reside near Dude Perfect's new headquarters at 15900 Gateway Dr. in Frisco. That project had a price tag of $3 million and encompasses 20,000 square feet, WFAA reported in December, citing a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Such filings are preliminary and often subject to changes.
Dude Perfect's production facility will be used by for capturing both pre-recorded and live-broadcast video, with customizable stages to support formats including interview series, variety show and the sports and competition content that Dude Perfect is known for. Yaffe said the facility will also be available for "other brands and partners" as Dude Perfect looks to scale its business.
"If there are other brands or creators or athletes or production companies that want to help further that mission [of producing family friendly content], we'll now actually have a world-class space with literally world-class technology provided by Samsung to help film and distribute and scale that content," Yaffe said.
Coby Cotton, one of the five founding "Dudes," said the company has consistently been "pulled" to Los Angeles but has never seriously considering leaving Dallas-Fort Worth. He noted all of the Dudes are from Texas. He also said they like the central location that makes it easy to fly anywhere and for professional athletes to visit to film with them. Dude Perfect has filmed videos with a number of professional athletes, including Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and most recently with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in a yet-to-be-released video.
"Obviously, 100 different reasons I can point to for why we love living in Texas and Dallas specifically, but that's been amazing for us and as a channel that has been so focused on sports, you can't find a better state," Cotton said.
Yaffe joked Dude Perfect "couldn't have 80,000 square feet in New York City or LA." He also pointed to Frisco's identity as a sports and entertainment hub, specifically mentioning the PGA of America headquarters and upcoming Universal Studios theme park.
The construction of a production facility also demonstrates the ongoing growth of Dude Perfect after receiving a nine-figure investment earlier this year from New York-based Highmount Capital Management LLC and Pittco Management LLC. Pittco is the family office for AutoZone founder Joseph R. "Pitt" Hyde III.
Highmount CEO Jason Illian, who interviewed Yaffe and Cotton onstage at the conference, pegged the investment at $100 million. Illian said he believes Dude Perfect has the chance to be spoken in the same breath as some of the biggest companies in the world like Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar as it continues to build itself into a sports and entertainment empire.
Illian noted that Dude Perfect's YouTube channel has more subscribers than the NFL, NBA and MLB combined.
"You really have a gem in your backyard here in Dallas-Fort Worth," Illian told the crowd of startup founders and investors in attendance at the Venture Dallas conference. "That's a huge opportunity for families and corporations and sports teams to really interact with this because it's gone global, but it's going to keep growing over the next few years. It's going to be exciting to kind of just walk along and serve with you guys."
