Dick’s Sporting Goods has started its own in-house media studio called Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios to create exciting sports stories and documentaries. The studio makes films about real people – like employees, athletes, and customers – to inspire others and build love for the brand. Their first big project is a movie about the Little League World Series, which aired on ESPN. The company has already won two Emmy awards for past documentaries and plans to tell more true stories, especially about youth sports. This move helps Dick’s share heartfelt sports moments and connect with fans in a fresh way.
What is Dick’s Sporting Goods’ new in-house media studio, and what does it aim to achieve?
Dick’s Sporting Goods has launched Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios, an in-house media unit focused on creating original sports entertainment and branded stories. The studio produces documentaries and content featuring employees, athletes, and customers, aiming to boost brand affinity and expand youth-sports storytelling.
- Dick’s Sporting Goods has quietly been building a mini-media empire for more than a decade, and on 7 August 2025 it made that effort official.
The retailer unveiled Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios*, an in-house content and production unit whose sole mandate is to create original sports entertainment and branded stories that turn employees, athletes and even everyday customers into the brand’s loudest advocates.
From $300 to an Emmy machine
The studio’s name is a nod to founder Dick Stack, who in 1948 borrowed $300 from his grandmother’s cookie jar to open the first bait-and-tackle shop.
Today the company operates 850+ stores and has already stacked two Sports Emmy awards for documentaries We Could Be King (2014) and The Turnaround (2024). Those wins sit inside a catalog of 15+ sports films, five of them feature-length and ten produced in short-form or episodic formats.
First project: Little League on ESPN
Cookie Jar’s debut is Big Dreams: The Little League World Series 2024, co-produced with Imagine Entertainment and MLB Studios.
The film premiered on ESPN on 12 August 2025 and is the first in what executives describe as a “scalable pipeline” for youth-sports storytelling.
| Key Stat | Number |
|---|---|
| Stores nationwide (2025) | 850+ |
| Sports Emmy wins to date | 2 |
| Total sports documentaries released | 15+ |
| Feature-length films | 5 |
| Short-form / episodic docs | 10 |
The content playbook
- Human-centered narratives – every project targets community, adversity and the emotional arc of sport.
- Youth-sports pipeline – partnerships with Little League, MLB and others create repeatable formats the studio can scale annually.
- Employee and athlete voices – the Dick’s Varsity Team program recruits creators and influencers inside the company’s own ecosystem, amplifying authentic stories rather than polished ads.
- Multiple formats – from 90-minute theatrical docs to TikTok-length shorts, all feeding the same brand affinity flywheel.
Pipeline beyond “Big Dreams”
Cookie Jar has already locked in two follow-ups:
- Rachel Foster documentary – the story of a woman declared dead after an accident who returns to run marathons.
- 1994 U.S. Men’s National Team – a deep dive into the World Cup squad credited with igniting American soccer fandom, timed for the 2026 FIFA World Cup cycle.
Industry context
Dick’s move mirrors a wider retail shift toward owned media.
Forrester reports that 40 % of CMOs plan to increase sports-content budgets this year despite the well-known difficulty of isolating direct ROI.
Retailers such as Boots (The B-Hive), Sephora and Sainsbury’s have all launched internal agencies or studios in 2025 to cut production timelines and keep creative control in-house.
Mark Rooks, VP of Creative, Entertainment & Sponsorships at Dick’s, sums up the gamble:
“It’s really about telling great stories, creating more fans of sport and hopefully fans of Dick’s Sporting Goods as a brand.”
How is Dick’s Sporting Goods formalizing more than a decade of award-winning sports storytelling?
The company has launched Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios, an in-house production hub that turns its long-running documentary habit into a scalable, always-on content engine. By housing writers, producers and post-production teams under one roof, Dick’s can now green-light stories faster, maintain full creative control and release them across ESPN, Netflix and its own digital channels without outside delays.
What does the first project from the new studio look like?
“Big Dreams: The Little League World Series 2024” premiered on ESPN on August 12, 2025. Produced in partnership with Imagine Entertainment and MLB Studios, the feature-length film follows the emotional arc of the 2024 tournament, spotlighting young athletes and their communities. The project is designed as a template the studio can replicate for future youth-sports events.
How does Dick’s plan to measure success when direct ROI is hard to quantify?
Early success will be tracked through brand-affinity lift rather than immediate sales spikes. According to Forrester data cited by the company, roughly 40 % of CMOs expect to increase sports-content budgets in 2025 even without a clear dollar-in-dollar-out model. Dick’s points to its two Sports Emmy wins (2014 and 2024) as proof that premium documentaries deepen emotional connection, which research shows correlates with long-term customer value.
What upcoming documentaries are already on the calendar?
Two major titles have been confirmed:
– Rachel Foster Documentary – a 2026 release chronicling a woman who was pronounced dead, recovered and now competes in marathons.
– 1994 U.S. Men’s National Team at the FIFA World Cup – scheduled for the 2026 soccer calendar year, revisiting the squad that hosted and galvanized American soccer culture.
Both projects will again blend human-first storytelling with community impact, a formula the studio believes turns viewers into lifelong brand advocates.
Why is the studio named “Cookie Jar & A Dream”?
The name honors Dick Stack, who founded the company in 1948 with a $300 loan from his grandmother’s cookie jar. Every release carries that origin story in its credits, reminding audiences that the same resourcefulness that started the business now fuels its most ambitious brand-marketing play.
