Dude Perfect’s ‘trick-shot town’ could find a home in North Texas - The Dallas Morning News

Could you hit a 330-foot trick shot?

Frisco-based Dude Perfect thinks there might be a fan out there who can do it and from an indoor tower in a new 10-acre headquarters the five guys want to build.

Longtime trick-shot entertainment fans might remember when the Dudes hit the “World’s Longest Basketball Shot” in 2009 at their alma mater’s storied Kyle Field in College Station. Inspired by that original YouTube video, the Dudes are bringing it full circle in their plans for a new home for their growing trick-shot empire.

They’re pitching a massive, family-friendly trick-shot destination and headquarters to a city that’s the “right fit” for their brand. The current Dude Perfect headquarters is in Frisco, on All Stars Avenue, and the Dudes said they hope to keep the brand in North Texas.

It will be a potentially $100 million project when it finds a home.

From left, Garrett Hilbert, Tyler Toney, Cory Cotton, Cody Jones and Coby Cotton show off a six-foot model of a new headquarters and entertainment destination they want to create for Dude Perfect.(Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)

In Dude Perfect’s existing headquarters, an octagon with couches, 3D replicas and vision boards line the gray walls. It lays out the dream that founders Tyler Toney, twins Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert and Cody Jones have only shown to their closest fans when they started doing on-the-road tours.

Sketches of “Trick Shot Town” and pickleball courts, or other possibilities, are pasted alongside one another. It’s lined with phrases like “no way” and “experience the impossible.” The dudes have spent almost two years thinking of what they want to create, with their fans in mind.

“As dads with young kids, we’re always looking for things to do,” said Cory Cotton, 34, who is originally from The Woodlands. “We feel like if this existed, we would go to it. We would take our kids there.”

A vision board at Dude Perfect's headquarters in Frisco. It lays out the dream that founders Tyler Toney, twins Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert and Cody Jones have only shown to their closest fans when they started doing on-the-road tours.(Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)

Bryan Trubey, senior principal architect at Overland Partners, said the creativity the Dudes displayed in building their brand is reflected in the project. The five dudes came to him with their vision and Trubey translated it into an architectural model.

Dude Perfect wants its project to have three focuses — sports, entertainment and faith, all of which are molding their ideas of a family-oriented venue, Trubey said. They also want it to be accessible — meaning not everything will require admission. They’ll have outdoor recreation spaces that are free and have different games families can play.

“A lot of what we hear from (fans) is ‘Man, we love watching the videos together as a family. We feel like we’re a part of it. We feel like we’re almost a part of the team,’” said Toney, 33, who’s originally from Prosper.

The fivesome thought for years about how to take the idea and put it into action — something that became very real only recently through the plans.

A rendering of Dude Perfect's Trick Shot Town.(Overland Partners)

“We took that one step further and thought, ‘Well, what if they actually could physically be a part of the team and we have this destination where instead of just watching the baseball through a moving car shot, they can actually come do it as a family,’” Toney said.

Dude Perfect partnered with architecture firm San Antonio-based Overland Partners. Trubey helped create projects like SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, AT&T Stadium in Arlington and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, during his time with HKS Architects. Overland Partners hatched a plan to bring a Dude Perfect venue to a city that’ll take the brand and all of the ideas the team has to offer.

While the group would like to stay in North Texas, they are open to other municipalities willing to take on the project and provide large economic incentives to make it happen. The Dudes see it as something that will attract people from all over.

A six-foot model sits in the Frisco headquarters of Dude Perfect and shows the new entertainment and corporate hub they want to create. (Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)

The Dude Perfect guys started out as college buddies who quickly turned into YouTube stars throwing down backyard challenges over who could do the best trick shot off a basketball hoop.. Now, the full-fledged entrepreneurs in their early 30s are husbands and dads.

Overnight, a video they posted on YouTube in 2009 blew up with millions of viewers. Today, Dude Perfect’s YouTube channel boasts over 58 million subscribers and continues to grow. The dudes film videos weekly, sometimes trick shots, other times poking fun at different things going on in their lives, and occasionally just all-around goofiness.

The dudes won’t discuss what they make annually from YouTube and other extensions of their brand. But the internet is filled with celebrity-watching sites that estimate their net worth as anywhere between $50 million and $90 million. Financial products site Finty estimates Dude Perfect earns between $20 million and $25 million a year from the YouTube channel and sponsorship deals.

The Dudes’ most recent project includes a multiyear deal with Amazon and Thursday Night Football, where they host their own broadcast short. They’ll next host a show on Nov. 3 and will produce at least four episodes. They’ve partnered with other large brands like Bass Pro Shops, Apex Legends, Chipotle and Dr Pepper.

Coby Cotton, 34, was also recently the big-name crew member on a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket flight. Blue Origin was founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in 2000 and uses a remote launch pad in West Texas for its space travel.

A rendering of Dude Perfect's impossible shot.(Overland Partners)

So back to that 330-foot trick shot. What happens if you hit it?

The Dudes say you might win $1 million, a truck or something else they think is cool. Or, as Jones jokes, if everyone keeps hitting the shot, the dudes might give you a $20 coupon off merchandise in their shop.

One thing is certain, the five guys entertaining themselves with backyard tricks never could have predicted this kind of success from a small YouTube video in college. Their channel has since grown to become the fourth-biggest sports channel on YouTube.

Toney jokes that the Dudes aren’t business “geniuses,” just some guys who wanted to have fun.

“Everyone’s always like, ‘Man, you guys really thought about how to do this,’” Toney said. “We just kind of did it and it turned out to be successful.”

Related:Co-founder of Frisco-based Dude Perfect is set to go to space

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