Thriving Under Pressure: Arkansas Diamonds Manager Lauren Hatten Discusses the Team’s Success and Goals
By Lana Pierce
Fans (and future fans) of the Arkansas Diamonds: Tune in! Arkansas’s best indoor arena football team, established in Hot Springs as the “Wiseguys” before expanding this year, the Arkansas Diamonds are bringing back the hard-hitting entertainment. The sport’s popularity—and team’s fast-growing fan base—has made the Diamonds team a staple of local summertime tradition.
The Springs Magazine sat down with the Diamonds General Manager, Lauren Hatten, to learn more about the team and the work behind the scenes.
What is arena football, and what sets it apart from traditional football?
It’s a 50-yard field with 10-yard end zones, so a 70-yard field. It’s only 85 feet wide, so it’s about a quarter of the size of a traditional football field. We play with seven players, and we don’t have a kicker.
Some remember the team as the Wiseguys. What’s the history here?
This is our second year with the Arena League after coming off of being an expansion team last season, when we were known as the Hot Springs Wiseguys. This year we rebranded to include the entire state. By widely promoting tourism and growth, we hope to show people what a beautiful area and community that we have here.
How do you, as general manager, strive to make games memorable?
We strive to be memorable from the very start of each game by paying attention to the little details. As manager, I believe each game is a top-down experience: from volunteers, players, staff and spectators down to the kids here to enjoy the game. I try to make sure everything flows well, and that each game is entertaining for everyone, no matter their football knowledge level.
After this expansion, what’s the most challenging part of getting the team noticed statewide?
I think the biggest hardship out there is making the Diamonds visible on all the platforms. We used to rely on traditional media like newspapers, radio, and television. But with so many options beyond those, it’s a challenge to make sure we reach a broad audience across all the additional platforms.
I want to get the word spread, and am working toward covering all the bases by tapping into platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, in addition to the traditional media forms.
What surprises people most about the Diamonds?
What surprises many is the résumé each player brings to the team. We have really elite athletes who came from Division 1 universities. Some even played in the NFL. Most of our guys have earned college degrees, including master’s and Doctoral degrees, and I think that’s really incredible. Fans know they’re watching amazing athletes who are also really smart guys, but they are also players who are approachable, down to earth, and just genuinely good men.
With such a unique blend of teammates, what’s the camaraderie like among players?
It’s cool to see how close they are. It cracks me up because you’d think, being grown men, they’d want alone time outside of practice. But every time you see them away from the arena, they’re always together watching game film or playing video games, and you remember they’re just regular people. They are friends and brothers, and they’ve grown close. I see it translate onto the field as well.
The Diamonds seem ever-present in the Hot Springs community. How does the team interact with the fans at large, especially with schools?
Our team focuses a lot in the off-season. We use our coach and usually some of our vets to go around to all the schools in the state. We made a priority of hitting schools across Arkansas.
But our goal close to home is to visit each school in Garland County to promote positive mentorship. Our coaches and players teach kids about life beyond football and ways to implement a football mindset into their everyday lives, leaning into that and learning how to be coachable and how to be good citizens.
What goals does the organization have (competitively and in terms of fan engagement?) over the next few seasons?
For those of us working as a group to make the Diamonds experience different and meaningful, I can say each and every game is a labor of love. Each game has a theme, then we choose a local nonprofit to assist, and pair each nonprofit with a suitable theme.
We are drawn toward nonprofits where our guys have mentored and volunteered so that the players enjoy the reward of continued help for these groups. As we work to build our own platform, we hope to get exposure for these groups, so that our following might become their followers as well.
Personally, my main goal in the organization is to consistently sell out the Arena and to make sure that these players have the support they deserve. I hope to see that support flourish in the community, among the fan base, and online. By expanding the fan experience, I hope to continue to raise the bar on that. I hope to one day see a waitlist to get into the stands.
Lana Pierce is owner of RetroFit in Hot Springs.
