DICK’S Sporting Goods launches In-House Production Studio. We interviewed the VP
Anwar Stetson
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DICK’S Sporting Goods has launched Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios, a newly formed in-house content and production arm dedicated to sports‑centered storytelling.
The announcement coincides with the premiere of Big Dreams: The Little League World Series 2024, a documentary exploring the competition, teamwork, and dedication behind one of America’s longest‑running youth sporting events.
Filmed in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the town has been home of the tournament for nearly eight decades. DICK’s co-produced the documentary with Imagine Entertainment and MLB Studios, and the film premiered on August 12. Prep Network connected with Mark Rooks, DICK’S VP of Creative, Entertainment & Sponsorships, about the growing venture.
PREP NETWORK: I love the name. Can you tell us where this comes from?
ROOKS: The name of the studio, Cookie Jar & A Dream, honors the founding story of DICK’S Sporting Goods: In 1948, an 18-year-old Dick Stack borrowed $300 from his grandmother—her savings, kept in a cookie jar—to open a small bait-and-tackle shop in Binghamton, New York. By the late 1970s, Dick expanded his product line to include much of what you’ll find at DICK’S Sporting Goods today. That humble beginning continues to shape the studio’s mission to elevate the voices and stories at the core of sport.
PREP NETWORK: Here at Prep Network, we seek to be “the voice of youth sports.” Why do you feel it’s important to be able to use content production to highlight youth sports storytelling, such as in Big Dreams?
ROOKS: For us, it’s about telling great sports stories, creating more fans of sport, and hopefully fans of DICK’S Sporting Goods as a brand along the way. We believe that sports have the power to change lives and build community for athletes and fans of all ages and sport types. Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios channels that belief through transformative storytelling that places sports at the heart of culture.
Big Dreams: Little League World Series 2024 is a great example of that! It is a true celebration of all that makes the LLWS tournament magical: the stories, the characters, and more. What makes this film even more special is the connection our company has to Little League. It has been a part of the DICK’S Sporting Goods story since our founder worked to expand the local Little League near our first store in Binghamton, NY, so that more kids could play. At DICK’S, we love what Little League and others are doing to bring more kids into sports!
PREP NETWORK: In-house content teams are growing at numerous organizations, including sports franchises that are funding their own production studios. But what made a retail-focused company like DICK’S Sporting Goods want to dive into the world of media production?
ROOKS: Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios is a natural extension of the company’s long-standing commitment to purpose-driven storytelling that places sports at the center of culture and community. The studio formalizes and expands this storytelling effort, allowing DICK’S to deepen its connection with audiences by spotlighting the human side of sports. Our content studio provides us with the ability to produce stories in our voice for our athletes. It also allows us to create content that lives forever, not just in a finite media window.
PREP NETWORK: Aside from Big Dreams, what other types of content is the team working on, and what sports are a focus? Also, what other media (documentary, social, etc.) is a focus?
ROOKS: We have several new projects in development, set to premiere in 2026 and beyond, that we’re excited to bring to life. I can’t give away too much, but what I can tell you is that with the World Cup coming to the U.S. in 2026, we are excited to be developing a film with Imagine Entertainment around the ‘94 U.S. World Cup Team. We are also working on a documentary about a really inspiring woman who overcomes a near-death accident and gets back to the sport she loves – running!
PREP NETWORK: Any other comments or thoughts?
ROOKS: While Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios is newly established, DICK’S has been storytelling through short and feature-length films for over a decade.
DICK’S first entered the space in 2014 with We Could Be King, a documentary that follows two rival high school football teams who were forced to combine due to budget cuts. That film won a Sports Emmy, the first-ever for DICK’S Sporting Goods. DICK’S won its second Sports Emmy in 2024 for The Turnaround, the first such award for us.
Thanks for your time, and we wish you and the team luck as you bring the studio to life!