Jamey Rootes

President

He has been the leader with the Houston Texans for nearly two decades and currently serves as President of the club. Under Rootes’ leadership, the Texans have earned many distinctions, including numerous “Crystal Awards” for marketing excellence. J.D. Power & Associates recognized the team for providing the best fan experience in the NFL and even featured the Texans as a service success story in their book entitled “Satisfaction.” The Texans have also received Sports Business Journal’s PRISM Award, which is given annually to the top major professional sports team based on business excellence criteria. In 2017, the Texans extended their sell-out streak to 174 consecutive home games, a Houston NFL record and a testament to the quality of service and entertainment provided by the organization on game day. As a result, the Texans have consistently been recognized as one of the most valuable professional sports franchises both in the NFL and globally, as measured by a variety of business publications. For the past 5 years, the Texans were recognized by the Houston Chronicle as one of “Houston’s Top Workplaces”.

For his efforts, Rootes was selected as Houston Business Journal’s Business Person of the Year in 2016 after serving as the Chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership, Deputy Chairman and Vice Chairman for two public boards for the Super Bowl Host Committee and elevating Houston’s visibility on an international scale. He was instrumental in bringing one of the largest soccer tournaments, Copa America, for Houston as well as landing Monday Night Football to Mexico for the first time in NFL history. Rootes was selected twice by SportsBusiness Journal as a member of its distinguished “Forty Under 40” list of leading sports executives, and he was named a finalist for Global Sports Executive of the Year by the Stadium Business Awards.

Rootes maintains an active role in the community by serving on a number of boards, including the Greater Houston Partnership and the United Way, and he is currently serving as the Board Chair of the United Way of Greater Houston. He also oversees the activities of the Houston Texans Foundation, which donated over $1.6 million in 2017 to benefit youth and families in the Houston area. Following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, Rootes worked with the league office, NFL teams, the United Way, and others to raise funds for those affected by the storms. In total, all NFL-related entities donated over $50 million for Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery along the Texas gulf coast. Since inception, the Texans have raised well over $30 million through annual fundraising events, disaster response programs, the team’s United Way campaign and partnerships with nonprofit organizations on game day.

Prior to joining the Texans, Rootes helped to launch Major League Soccer as president and general manager of the Columbus Crew. During his tenure, the Crew was consistently among the league’s strongest teams both on and off the field, and Rootes was recognized as Executive of the Year in 1996 and Marketing Executive of the Year in 1999. Rootes helped lead the construction of Mapfre Stadium in 1999, which was the first stadium of its type in the United States. This facility earned distinction as America’s Foremost Sports Facility of the Year and led to the development of numerous soccer-specific stadiums across the United States, including BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.

Rootes also serves as President of Lone Star Sports & Entertainment (LSSE), a sports management agency associated with the Texans. LSSE has been a catalyst for some of Houston’s most significant sporting events. LSSE created and now manages the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, Houston’s annual college football bowl game. Since its launch in 2006, the Texas Bowl has become the best attended bowl game outside of the College Football Playoff. The Bowl’s charity partner, DePelchin Children’s Centers, has received well-over $1 million to support their important work with the foster-kids and families of the Houston Area. In 2015, the Texas Bowl shattered the record for the largest bowl game crowd in Houston history as a sold out NRG Stadium audience saw the LSU Tigers defeat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 56-27. LSSE also created and manages an annual Labor Day college football game, the AdvoCare Texas Kick-Off, which holds the record for the largest college football crowd in NRG Stadium history. The projected annual economic impact of these two games is $100 mm with approximately 100K out of town visitors.

Outside of football, LSSE has been a leader in soccer beginning with the 2003 U.S. vs. Mexico soccer match which set a soccer attendance record for Texas and caused U.S. Soccer to recognize NRG Stadium with the Best Soccer Crowd in America award. LSSE has also hosted large crowds for Interliga, Gold Cup, Barcelona on Tour, and other marquee events. This success led to the establishment of Houston’s Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, the Houston Dynamo in 2006, which is a two-time champion of MLS playing in BBVA Compass Stadium. More recently, LSSE hosted large crowds for Gold Cup 2007, 2009 and 2011, a capacity crowd of over 70,000 for U.S. vs. Mexico in February 2008, Houston’s first-ever World Cup qualifier with Mexico and Belize and the 2010 MLS All-Star game featuring Manchester United which set a new NRG Stadium soccer attendance record of 70,728. In June of 2016, LSSE hosted Copa America Centenario at NRG Stadium. Copa America is the largest and most prestigious soccer tournament to be held in the United States since World Cup USA 94. In total, LSSE has hosted the Mexican National Team sixteen (16) times with an average attendance of over 60,000 passionate fans, establishing NRG Stadium as the US home for “El Tri.” In 2017, LSSE hosted the Manchester Derby featuring Manchester United and Manchester City. This was the first time that the Manchester Derby was played outside the U.K. LSSE has also delivered record crowds for the Battle of the Pineywoods annual college football rivalry game, and hosted major concerts featuring Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Tim McGraw and other artists.

A native of Stone Mountain, Ga., Rootes graduated Cum Laude from Clemson University’s Calhoun Honors College. While attending Clemson, Rootes was a member of the Tigers’ soccer team that captured two NCAA titles and he served as Student Body President. While earning a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with honors at Indiana University, he served as an assistant soccer coach for the Hoosiers. Rootes previously held positions at IBM and Procter & Gamble before entering sports. He lives in West University with his wife, Melissa, and their children, Chris and Caroline.

David Fletcher

General Manager

David Fletcher became Executive Director of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl and AdvoCare Texas Kickoff as well as the Director of Lone Star Sports & Entertainment on January 1, 2014.  He was promoted to General Manager of Lone Star Sports & Entertainment on April 1, 2016.  During his time leading LSSE, David has solidified NRG Stadium as one of the premier destinations for sporting events in the world.  He’s overseen some of biggest sporting events to ever come to Houston, including the most attended college football game (2014 AdvoCare Texas Kickoff), the most attended Bowl game (2015 Bowl) and the most attended soccer game (Copa America Centenario Semifinal – US vs. ARG) along with a number of other world class events like the first ever Manchester Derby played outside the UK between Manchester United and Manchester City in 2017.

David joined the NFL’s Houston Texans in June 2010.  Prior to leading LSSE and the Texas Bowl, he most recently served as the Director of Corporate Development and Broadcast Sales of the Texans, negotiating and managing a number of the team’s major corporate partnerships while helping to build and oversee one of the largest in-house media platforms in the NFL.  In October 2012, he added the responsibility of the same role with Lone Star Sports & Entertainment leading local corporate sales efforts for the Texas Bowl and Texas Kickoff.  David started his career as intern with the Houston Texans in 2002 and followed with positions at Clear Channel Radio and the NBA’s Houston Rockets before returning to the Texans in 2010.

A native of Houston, David is a proud graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.  He was named a member of the Houston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” for 2017 as well as one of the Top-20 Most Influential Sports Leaders in Houston.  He serves as an Executive Committee member of the Football Bowl Association, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game Houston 2024 Host Committee, the Touchdown Club of Houston, the Texas Exes Houston Chapter and the United 2026 Houston World Cup Bid Committee.  He currently lives in Missouri City with his wife, Sara, and their children, Sydney and Will.

Blaine Foreman

Director of Events & Operations

Blaine Foreman joined LSSE in September of 2015 after working with the Houston Texans for two seasons as a Partnership Marketing Coordinator. He began as the Events and Operations Manager in 2015 and was promoted to Senior Events Operations Manager in 2016 before assuming his current role as Director of Events and Operations. Blaine manages all of the gameday operations including stadium, security, officials and teams primary contact for all major LSSE events including AdvoCare Kick-off, Battle of the Piney Woods, Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, and International soccer. He also oversee all Bowl week events, team hospitality and transportation for the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl. Blaine has had the opportunity to manage the operations for some of the biggest sporting events in Houston including a historic matches like Copa America Centenario (USA vs Argentina) in 2016 and the first ever Manchester Derby played outside of the UK between Manchester United and Manchester City in 2017.

Before joining the Houston Texans & LSSE, Blaine worked for Georgia IMG Sports Marketing as an Account Executive in 2012. He began his career as an Intern with Texas A&M Sports Properties (Learfield Sports) from 2008 – 2010, and then took a position with Chick-fil-A as a Marketing Director in College Station, TX.

A native of Port Neches, TX, Blaine is a proud member of Texas A&M University class of 2009. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management. He currently lives in Houston, TX with his wife Rene’ and daughter Lily Kate.

Sarah Dedmon

Senior Event Coordinator

As Senior Event Coordinator for LSSE, Sarah is in charge of coordinating all Bowl Week events and managing all DePelchin Academy Sports + Outoors Texas Bowl volunteer and committee chair efforts. Sarah also oversees the relationship with the Academy Sports + Outdoors official charitable partner, DePelchin Children’s Center.

Before joining the LSSE team, she spent three years as the Ticketing and Suites Coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Toyota Center.  In that role, Sarah assisted with on-court fan experiences and supervised the department intern, while also supporting the event planning needs of the organization. Prior to the Rockets, she interned in the Texas A&M Athletic Department, overseeing all of the special events on West Campus and managing six different athletic facilities.  Sarah also worked for 12th Man Productions, the university’s athletic media branch, and supervised volleyball intramurals at the student Rec Center.

Sarah is from Friendswood, Texas and is a proud member of the Texas A&M University class of 2015. She graduated with a degree in Sport Management and a minor in Business Administration. She currently lives in Houston with her husband, Seth.

Jasmine Butler

Event & Marketing Coordinator

In her role as Event & Marketing Coordinator, Jasmine manages Bowl Week events, oversees hotel hospitality room planning and execution, and coordinates LSSE event and marketing activations. She also is responsible for coordinating the Gridiron Legends program and family events throughout the season.

Prior to joining LSSE, Jasmine joined the Houston Texans as a Marketing Events Intern where she assisted with the execution of programs and events from youth football programs to Texans Radio.

A native Houstonian, Jasmine is a proud member of the Louisiana State University class of 2014. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Administration.

Emily Kolar

Partnership Marketing Representative

Emily Kolar serves as the Partnership Marketing Representative and manages the fulfilment of all of corporate and media partnership contracts for Lone Star Sports and Entertainment events. She is responsible for the development and execution of year round marketing strategies to achieve sponsor objectives.

Before joining Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, Emily was a marketing intern for four seasons with Texas A&M University Athletics. She then worked with Fuse Marketing Agency located in Burlington, Vermont as their Brand Strategy Intern and later on as a Tour Manager. Emily joined the Houston Texans organization in August 2018 as the Lone Star Sports and Entertainment Intern and transitioned to the Houston Texans Corporate Development Full-Time intern in January 2019.

Emily is from Azle, Texas and is a member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2018 (whoop)! She graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Sport Management and a minor in Business Administration.

Carly Boatwright

Partnership Sales Representative

Carly Boatwright is responsible for LSSE marketing efforts. Carly focuses on creating engaging content and working with vendors, partners and local organizations to place meaningful advertising that creates raving fans, effectively promotes event branding and translates into ticket sales.

Prior to joining the LSSE team, Carly was the Marketing Manager for the Double A Affiliate of the Astros, the Corpus Christi Hooks. She lead all digital marketing efforts and worked to keep the Hooks ahead of the curve with new technology and innovative strategy.

Carly grew up in Parker, Colorado and graduated with a BA in Communications from the University of Tulsa where she also won two Conference USA Volleyball Championships in her four seasons with the women's volleyball team.