Meet Tommy Benizio of Texas Revolution Professional Football

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tommy Benizio.

Tommy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I believe that I am writing this from the middle of my story. As I sit here typing today, April 12, 2018, I know that I am not done. God has put me on such a cool path and I have done my best not to screw it up. I have and continue to, enjoy regular successes… but also challenges and struggles. I am excited about our upcoming game in Albuquerque this weekend while I hope for a victory and am even more eager to get to next Saturday when we host our rivals, the Marshalls here at Dr. Pepper Arena. But I am also feeling the pressure of having to make another week of payroll, sell enough tickets, and be a good steward of all God has entrusted me with. What a rollercoaster ride!

But I digress. My story actually starts as a young hockey player aspiring to be a professional despite not really having any God-given talent for the sport. I had lived away from my family since after 15 years old pursuing this dream traveling in my Junior hockey career as far away as Saskatchewan, Canada. A pretty lucky break handed me an invitation to training camp with the Richmond Renegades of the ECHL in the early 90’s and eventually my signing a professional contract in Roanoke of that same league.

Having been quickly released from both teams, especially the team in Roanoke who boasted the worst win/loss record in all of professional hockey that year inspired me to adjust myself and set a new goal of a college education. While attending Radford University near my new home in the Roanoke Valley, I was put in a position to serve as president of the university’s club hockey team. This event leads me to my real passion… sports management. More than a decade of some success working for pro hockey teams across America, but more often, a lack of success left me jobless and on my knees in prayer.

During this period, a young man who had worked for me a few years earlier while I was part owner and operator of a professional hockey team in El Paso, contacted me explaining that the sport of Arena Football had now exploded with teams sprinkled across the nation. Everywhere that is except Texas… where football is king? After meeting with the Arena Football League and discovering that Jerry Jones of our beloved Cowboys had secured the rights to every city with an arena in the Lone Star state from the AFL, we reached out to Valley Ranch in hopes of gaining his approval to launch a couple of teams in Texas. We were denied. Lead by the courage of my business partner Chad Dittman, We launched our own league here in Texas since we could not participate in the existing AFL. We called it the Indoor Football League and launched teams in six cities including my personal team in Odessa.

For the first of two occasions, on unemployment and without a penny in my pocket, I launched a professional football team. People thought we were crazy but the truth is, I somehow knew that it would work from the moment that the idea for the IFL was formed in my head. Entering the home of “Friday Night Lights”, we knew that we had to show people that this new team and unfamiliar sport would be a great blessing to their community and a lot of fun to be part of. With great determination and ingenuity, our team was successful both on and off the field. This leads me to a new chapter in my career once being offered the opportunity to serve the league rather than just my own team…

After five years of serving as the Commissioner for a 26 team professional football league out of Richmond, Virginia, I felt called to join a now-defunct team in Allen, Texas. Along with a few lifelong friends who I convinced to join me there, we were dealt a pretty rough hand when the team was shut down very soon after our arrival leaving us jobless and nearly homeless. That is when we realized that God brought us here to operate a professional indoor football and now it just meant launching a new one for ourselves.

Most people on unemployment don’t take on such tasks but we were armed with a lot of enthusiasm and valuable experience and the Texas Revolution was born. After 5 great years at the Allen Event Center, we elected to relocate the team to the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco for this 2018 season fresh off our first championship season.

The past six years have truly been the biggest blessing of any time in my life. Despite the aforementioned struggles of owning and operating a business, I have gotten married to Jessica, the most amazing woman I have ever known, been blessed with the most remarkable little girl named Giuliana, and developed a different sense of success as an aspiring great husband and father. I have certainly not earned a place of lavish living and finical freedom through my work as of today but I really look forward to being in my office each day and working on worthy goals with a pretty awesome group of colleagues (shout out to Charlie, Dave, Cameron, Jeremy, and Vic!). I am grateful for the journey so far and can’t wait to see what God has in store for me in the second half of my adventure!

Texas Revolution Professional Football – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Texas Revolution is a professional football team, playing indoors/arena football at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas. The game is designed to be hard hitting and high scoring all while maintaining the principles of the sport of football that we all love so much here in Texas. We employ players who largely have backgrounds playing at major Division 1 Colleges and many with NFL experience, all of who are playing with hopes of getting back to the NFL.

Dazzling pregame festivities and America’s Got Talent-type halftime performances are all just part of the family fun. All tickets are just $6 for kids 12 and under and start at $20 for adults. The season runs from February through June offering an off-season football fix for those who enjoy the sport.

Pricing:

• Adult Tickets for Home Games in Frisco Range from $20-$55 each
• All kids Tickets (12 & Under) are just $6 with a paid adult

Contact Info:

• Address: 2930 Preston Road, Suite 100; Frisco, Texas 75034 (Texas Revolution Corporate Offices)
  2601 Ave of the Stars, Frisco, Texas 75034 (Dr Pepper Arena)
• Website: www.TexasRevs.com
• Phone: 972-422-7277
• Email: dv@texasrevs.com
• Facebook: FaceBook.com/TexasRevolution
• Twitter: @TexasRevs

Image Credit:
Fred Shots Photography

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.