The Cowboy Channel is one of the few in sports, or sports TV, to have this
Wandering around the Stockyards you are more apt to run into a cow, but do not be shocked if you see a seven-pound Maltipoo dog following a blonde haired woman as she does odd jobs.
Wearing a sweatshirt, jeans and with her devoted dog Apple tailing her every move, Raquel Gottsch does not exactly project the image of the old-school, boardroom-occupying, power-tie wearing CEO.
And she doesn’t care.
When we met last week in the Stockyards, she was busy helping set up the Cowboy Channel’s offices, and studios, in the Stockyards to prepare for the National Finals Rodeo, which are running at Globe Life Field this week.
The CEO of the Cowboy Channel, in that moment, could have easily been confused for an intern.
And she doesn’t care.
When the Cowboy Channel relocated from Nashville to Fort Worth, Gottsch had a vision to expand the footprint of the network both on the air, and as a physical tourist destination.
“Our vision is to be the official network of rodeo,” she said.
Done and done.
With the Stockyards’ redevelopment moving along, the Cowboy Channel’s presence is a boon for the tourist area that for years was in desperate need of tenants and a makeover.
“We want to bring as many events as we can to Fort Worth,” she said. “We’d like to think we had a hand in bringing the NFR here.”
She did. The Cowboy Channel is airing 10 hours of live television from Fort Worth, and the NFR in Arlington, every day during what is the Super Bowl of rodeo.
What Gottsch did not have is a vision to serve as an inspiration for young women who aspire to hold high-ranking executive positions in sports, but she is.
Gottsch is one of the few women who have become CEO in the world of sports or sports television.
“One of my mentors I look up to is [WWE executive] Stephanie McMahon,” Gottsch said. “I look at her path in life and see some similarities.”
The similarities are hard to miss.
Her father, Patrick Gottsch, who previously served as the director of sales for the Superior Livestock Auction from 1992 to ‘96, started Rural Free Delivery Television (RFD-TV), and the Cowboy Channel.
And, over the years, he became grooming either Raquel or her sister Gatsby for this role, even if it sounds somewhat unintentional.
To be clear, Raquel was not handed this job. She was given a series of “less than great” tasks on her way up, including taking out garbage and keeping the place clean. She repeatedly demonstrated she was capable.
Gatsby became a lawyer, who works for the Cowboy Channel as outside counsel, while Raquel immersed herself in branding and marketing.
Two years ago, her dad asked her if she wanted the CEO job.
“I never thought he’d be willing to give up the title. But I knew if I didn’t take it someone else would,” she said. “We went from 60 employees to 135 and still growing.”
Even though she’s been in and around this business since she was a teenager, and knows everybody, she’s well aware of her status as the only woman in the room.
“Especially in the Western world,” said Gottsch, who grew up living in North Richland Hills, Saginaw and Coppell before she graduated from Creighton in 2007. She and her fiancee and her two stepchildren currently live in Lake Worth.
Today she is one of the few women in sports with this much power and influence, and the title and responsibility come with the realization she’s a trailblazer.
“It’s kind of hit me in the last 365 days,” she said. “It’s more about women calling me and asking for advice.”
Doing the job came more naturally to her than did here to consciously serve as a role model. Acting as a mentor was a skill she acquired. Or is acquiring.
Some of this Gottsch makes up as she goes.
“It’s be who you are, and not be afraid to be front and center when the time calls for it,” she said. “I do think sometimes I forget, though, that some of this is [intimidating]. Because I think I’m still the person trying to get a trailer unstuck.”
At no point does she complain about anything. But she sees the differences.
In the last year, a meeting was to take place between a local event and the Cowboy Channel, but once the event planners found out her father was not coming, they canceled. Even if it was a “misunderstanding,” it still stings.
One common truth in the CEO/executive world is how much “work” is actually done after 5 p.m. In a bar. On a golf course. Maybe a hunting trip. Places, situations and social settings that are still predominantly masculine.
That’s one piece of the glass ceiling that remains uncracked.
Moments like those are more of an irritant, since they have not slowed down Gottsch.
These days her primary concern is the Cowboy Channel, and, much like how she grew into that job, she’s growing into the position of role model, too.
