7 Ways that Southwest Airlines is like Friday Night Lights

[aeliasen]

Southwest Airlines is all about connecting People to what they’re passionate about, including music and television. One of the ways that we bring that to life is through our sponsorship of the ATX Television Festival, which celebrates the love of television throughout the years and the fans who are dedicated to the shows, actors, writers, and all things TV. Each year the festival drums up creative new programming, and 2016 was no different. Among the events we enjoyed most was the Friday Night Lights Tailgate and Pep Rally, which reunited cast members after the show’s premier on NBC ten years ago. Attendees enjoyed a screening of a fan-favorite episode, and jammed out during performances from local bands and, if you’re a true fan you’ll remember, Crucifictorious (the fictional band from the show). In celebration of the Friday Night Lights Tailgate and Pep Rally, we’re here to keep you in the spirit with the Top Seven reasons (get it? a touchdown plus the field goal is seven points) how Southwest Airlines is similar to the TV show Friday Night Lights.

1. Just like the Panthers and the Lions had a great coach leading them–Coach Taylor– Southwest Airlines has a great Leader at the helm in Gary Kelly!
2. Both Friday Night Lights and Southwest Airlines share a love for Austin, Texas. Spoiler alert! Dillon, TX, is the fictional town from the show, but scenes for the show were actually filmed in Austin.
3. Working for an airline is the ultimate team sport. From the air, to the ground, and everything in between, it takes everyone on our Team to get our Customers to their destination safely and on time.
4. We root on our fellow Employees and celebrate our victories together, just like the fans on the TV show cheer on their teams.
5. We own our home turf, just like the teams on Friday Night Lights. We are proud to support and be an integral part of the 98 communities in which we serve.
6. We know how to have fun! Fans on the TV show turn out for the games, pep rallies, and tailgates, and we at Southwest Airlines celebrate and preserve our Culture with Company and Customer events throughout the year.
7. Just like the Dillon Panthers rally around their unifying symbol of the Panther P before a game, we rally around our Heart—it’s at the center of everything that we do.

We also partnered with ATX Television Festival to create the first-ever ATX Television Festival Channel onboard our WiFi-equipped aircraft. This channel brings exclusive content and panels from previous festivals to our Customers while they’re at 35,000 feet! Be sure to tune in from now until the end of August to catch all of the content. Clear skies, full tanks, can’t lose.