From a multimedia and corporate standpoint, it is really difficult to criticize Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones. He runs the most lucrative organization in America’s most popular sports league. He has won three Super Bowls, and his team’s famous star is, perhaps, the most recognizable logo in all of sports.
Jones directed the construction of a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex, The Star. His practice and medical facilities are second to none, and his charitable work is exemplary. Even his world famous cheerleaders have their own reality television series.
The Dallas Cowboys are the richest team in American professional sports with an estimated worth of over $9 billion. Jones has been a leader in marketing his team – a renegade who has blazed a trail followed by his NFL ownership compatriots, most notably an actual Patriot, Robert Kraft.
In addition to taking a lead role in NFL TV deals with FOX, NBC, CBS, and Amazon, Jones has forged a Spanish language contract with Televisa Univision and numerous other media deals.
His Dallas Cowboys Radio Network with Brad Sham, Babe Laufenberg, and Kristi Scales reaches all of Texas from Abilene to Wichita Falls as well as markets in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
Jones has also partnered with Compass Media Networks to deliver games on terrestrial radio to markets not covered by the Cowboys Radio Network. The Compass broadcast features former Cowboys quarterback Danny White along with play-by-play host Kevin Ray and studio host Jerry Recco giving the team essentially its own national radio presence.
At dallascowboys.com, visitors can view press conferences, practice sound bites, coaches and executives comments, game highlights, podcasts, and of course, buy tickets and team merchandise. Last year, the Cowboys ranked first in the NFL for team merchandise sales, and Micah Parsons, Dak Prescott, and CeeDee Lamb all finished in the top 10 in jersey sales.
Still, despite glitz that would make Lady Gaga blush and more money than the Federal Reserve, there is a persistent cloud lingering over this empire of success. For all of his wisdom in building and marketing a brand, since 1995, Jones’ football team has failed to win a championship or even make it to an NFC Title game.
Moreover, the team has become consistent negative fodder for the always ready to pounce sports media denizens. The eminent and omnipresent Stephen A. Smith of ESPN has created a side hustle just criticizing and taunting the Cowboys.
His “Southern Steve” character, complete with a Stetson hat and big cigar, regularly tweaks the Cowboys as an accident waiting to happen, chiding their inevitable playoff fall.
Jones’ Texas-sized vision took ownership of the Cowboys in 1989, and his first two moves were his best. Firing legendary coach Tom Landry was a controversial act that made spurs spin throughout Texas, but it was the right move.
Hiring Jimmy Johnson, the highly successful college recruiter and coach, was incredibly shrewd. Johnson was Jones with football knowledge. They were mirror images of each other – brash, smart, ultra-competitive, and hungry. Ironically, these similarities ultimately led to their schism.
With Johnson’s departure after the 1993 season, Jones had the chance to make a third great move. Instead, he took over as player personnel chief/general manager and hired a series of head coaches in Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips, and Jason Garrett.
Switzer won Super Bowl XXX with Jimmy Johnson’s roster. Parcells rode off into the Dallas sunset once he realized that he would not have total control in building the team. The other four were just guys carrying out the playbook.
One of the best editions of NFL Network’s A Football Life series focuses on the 1995 Cleveland Browns. 1995 was the Browns’ last season in Cleveland before owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore.
The program is top-notch because it does not focus on the Cleveland roster of players, but rather, on the roster of executive, coaching, and scouting talent that worked with Browns’ head coach Bill Belichick at the time.
Names like Ozzie Newsome, Nick Saban, Thomas Dimitroff, Scott Pioli, Kirk Ferentz, Eric Mangini, Phil Savage, Mike Tannenbaum, and Jim Schwartz speckled the Browns’ business and personnel brain trust.
At the time, many of these future NFL staples were quite young, but the talent was there. After Johnson left, Jerry Jones could have hired any of these gifted men as general managers, head coaches, or player personnel executives.
Newsome built the Ravens into a Super Bowl champion and perennial title contender. Saban has coached two of the most successful college teams of this era, LSU and Alabama.
Pioli was a key cog in the New England Patriots dynasty. Tannenbaum brought the Jets to the AFC title game. Dimitroff was a major figure in bringing the Atlanta Falcons to annual playoff contention and a Super Bowl. Each member of Belichick’s Cleveland crew has had success at one stop or another.
Of course, the ringleader of this once-in-a-lifetime staff was Belichick. Fired by Modell after the 1995 season, Belichick’s own rise would take many a turn until he finally settled in as the Patriots’ head coach and football czar in 2000.
Imagine if Jones had hired Belichick to join the Cowboys and let him work the magic that he eventually conjured up for the Kraft family in New England.
Jones’ limitless resources and the Cowboys’ legendary name could have undoubtedly lured any talented NFL personnel executive to Big D, but Jones would have had to relinquish some control.
Owners of NFL teams have every right to run their franchises the way they see fit. They ink media deals, pay salaries, and build stadiums. If the economy tanks, they take the hit. If the team loses games and fans stay home, they incur the loss of revenue.
Still, I always get a bit queasy when I see owners patrolling the sidelines during games or being deeply involved in talent assessment or draft room analysis. They have a right to be there, but I’m not so sure it’s right for them to be there.
As we get ready for the 2023 NFL season, Jerry Jones’ NFL legacy is firmly intact. He is a respected, innovative, and influential icon, a Hall of Famer and brilliant media maestro, but he will tell you himself that all this is not enough. Jerry Jones wants another Super Bowl championship, not just a Cherry Blow Dry Bar next to his stadium.
Jones remains the owner, president, and general manager of the Cowboys, and it is clear that the team has a renewed sense of purpose with the increased input of sons Stephen and Jerry, Jr., and daughter Charlotte.
The Cowboys still dominate on all media platforms and carry the most widespread and devoted fan base in football. Current head coach Mike McCarthy has been the team’s best hire since Parcells.
Moreover, with Stephen Jones as director of player personnel, the Cowboys have drafted, signed, and traded more prudently and have a roster capable of playing in Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas on February 11.
Perhaps Jerry Jones has learned a lesson from another renegade owner, Al Davis, the managing general partner of the Raiders who passed away in 2011.
Davis, like Jones, was a brilliant trailblazer, but eventually became so controlling that he alienated a host of great coaches and executives while his team degenerated from contention to oblivion. Davis had three favorite words, “Just win, baby.” By sharing the decision-making load, Jerry Jones seems to have positively embraced just two: Letting go.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
