Jones oversees many aspects of the club’s operations, serving as its chief operating officer and one of its co-owners. Here are 10 things to know about Jones, including some of his most notable moves as a Cowboys front office member:

1. The basics

Name: Stephen Jones

Position: Chief operating officer and co-owner of the Dallas Cowboys; president of AT&T Stadium

Birthdate: June 21, 1964

Birthplace: Danville, Arkansas

Family members: Karen (wife); Jessica, Jordan, Caroline and John Stephen (children); Jerry Jones Jr. (brother); Charlotte Jones (sister); Jerry Jones (father); Gene Jones (mother)

2. The deal with Deion

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones likes to tell the story of how Stephen threw him against a wall at the Mansion 20 years ago when the club was about to sign cornerback Deion Sanders. Stephen thought the seven-year, $35 million contract was excessive and would create problems with Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith.

When Jerry said he was going into the next room to tell Sanders’ agent that they had a deal Stephen grabbed his father by the arm and pushed him.

“What are you going to do, hit me?’’ Jerry asked. “I’m not going to hit you, but let’s talk a little more,’’ Stephen said. The Cowboys did sign Sanders, but Jerry went to Aikman, Irvin and Smith first to secure buy-in. — From a story by former Dallas Morning News writer David Moore that was published on Sept. 12, 2015.

3. Almost worked at Wendy’s when he was younger

Jerry almost made Stephen get a job at Wendy’s when he was a kid. Here’s the story from former Dallas Morning News columnist Alan Peppard:

About that time, Jerry offered Stephen his first football deal. He would break with family tradition and not make Stephen get a job. “You’re going to have this football and training regimen,” Jerry said. “I don’t think you can do that and have a job. You have to treat football like a job. You don’t take a day off. You don’t skip work. Do we have a deal?”

Stephen agreed. They had a deal.

But when Gene and Jerry were gone, Stephen hosted a big pool party at the house. The crowd was loud. But his friends fell silent when they saw Jerry Jones by the pool motioning for his son to get out.

“This wasn’t our deal,” Jerry said. “Go upstairs and get your suit. We’re gonna go interview and get you a job flipping burgers at Wendy’s.”

That afternoon, Wendy’s franchise owner Jerry Hamra met with Stephen and said he could start the next day. “We’ll see you at 8 a.m.,” Hamra said. “You start by cleaning the grease pits.”

Later in the car, Jerry asked, “You fired up about that?”

Dejected, Stephen said he was not.

“We had our deal,” Jerry said. “You broke our deal. But OK, you get one more chance.”

Continue reading here.

4. The business guru

Most Cowboys fans know Stephen Jones as his father’s right-hand man. As the elder Jones has aged, Stephen has taken more responsibility with the team, especially on the business side of things. Besides his titles with the Cowboys organization, Stephen is also the president of AT&T Stadium, and led the naming rights negotiations for the stadium back in 2013. AT&T Stadium has set the standard for football stadiums in the U.S., becoming one of the NFL’s largest and most expensive venues.

The stadium has played host to many marquee events outside football, including the largest indoor boxing event in U.S. history and, in 2026, nine FIFA World Cup games.

Stephen can also frequently be seen chatting with media members about Cowboys player contracts and negotiations. His influence is seen in Dallas’ negotiating approach as the club has taken a harder financial line than in the past. He is also one of the key drivers behind the Cowboys prioritizing the draft, which has helped Dallas find a number of young playmakers.

Some of Stephen’s most notable moves include signing Emmitt Smith and getting Jerry Jones to pass on Johnny Manziel.

5. Zack Martin over Johnny Manziel in the 2014 draft

Jerry Jones’ fascination with Manziel in the ‘14 draft was no secret, but he felt that Manziel would be gone when the Cowboys were on the clock at No. 16 overall.

“Let’s not assume that, Dad,” Stephen said. Stephen thought there was a chance linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive tackle Aaron Donald or linebacker Ryan Shazier would be on the board. He then made a case for offensive lineman Zack Martin and detailed his reasons again why he wouldn’t take Manziel. Stephen suggested that his father talk to the coaches and scouts over the course of the day to dig deeper on their thoughts about Manziel and left it there.

Later that evening, everyone gathered for the draft. Barr went No. 9 to Minnesota. Donald went No. 13 to St. Louis. Shazier went the pick ahead of the Cowboys to Pittsburgh. Martin was the top-rated player on the Cowboys’ board. Stephen knew everyone in the room loved him.

“Who do you all want to take?” Jerry asked.

Will McClay, the senior director of college/pro personnel spoke up and said Martin. Head coach Jason Garrett said he believed the team should take Martin. Jerry said, “Let’s go over this quarterback thing one more time.”

“We need to take Martin,” Stephen said.

“OK, I guess that’s what we’ll do,” Jerry announced to the room. — From a story by former Dallas Morning News writer David Moore that was published on Sept. 12, 2015.

6. Following dad’s footsteps at Arkansas

An all-state quarterback who ranked in the top 10% of his high school graduating class, Stephen Jones’ choice of colleges came down to Princeton or Arkansas. His father leaned toward the Ivy League, but Stephen wanted to fulfill a boyhood ambition to play for the Razorbacks. Recruited as a quarterback by Lou Holtz, he switched to safety after Holtz left for Minnesota and the new coach advanced a running-oriented offense.

“I was not a wishbone quarterback, I was more of a throwing quarterback,” Stephen Jones says.

His only start came in the 1987 Orange Bowl game — ironically, it was against Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma squad. Arkansas lost 42-8. Jones played four years on Arkansas teams that went to four consecutive bowl games.

7. His son won back-to-back state titles playing QB for Highland Park

Stephen Jones’ son also played quarterback in high school. In fact, John Stephen Jones led Highland Park to a state title in both 2016 and 2017 (the first was a 16-7 win over Temple and the second was a 53-49 win over Manvel).

Here’s some reaction from the first title…

…and the second.

John Stephen was named MVP of both games.

“This is absolutely the best,” Stephen said after the first title. “We’ve had a lot of great things happen to us in sports, but to be a part of my son quarterbacking a state championship team is the very best.”

Stephen would follow that up saying this after the second title:

“I didn’t think you could top last year, but we did,” Stephen said. “It’s raw emotion. You live for something like this.”

John Stephen was named SportsDayHS’ Offensive Player of the Year for 2017. And like his dad and grandfather, he played football at Arkansas, even earning a start against Western Kentucky in his second season.

“At the end of the day when we were sitting in there Saturday night and again Sunday morning, he asked me what I thought and I said, ‘What I think is I want you to be happy,’” Stephen said, holding back tears. “He understood that, and it was strictly his decision.

“That’s what his mother, Karen, wanted, that’s what I wanted, that’s what Jerry wanted; for him to go play football where he wanted to and he had options. At the end of the day, he wanted to be a Razorback. That’s what he dreamed to be.”

8. What Stephen did before joining the Cowboys

Stephen Jones graduated from Arkansas with a degree in chemical engineering in 1988. Before his dad bought the Cowboys in 1989, Stephen worked for the family oil and gas business, JMC Exploration, as a reservoir engineer determining how much oil and gas is actually in a reserve.

In 2013, Stephen Jones was inducted into the Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers, which was created for, “the purpose of recognizing outstanding chemical engineers and providing support for the [University of Arkansas’] Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering,” according to the Academy’s website.

He’s still proud of his degree, and in the summer of 2023, The Star in Frisco hosted a reunion for University of Arkansas College of Engineering alumni with a video introduction from Stephen Jones.

“The University of Arkansas does an excellent job preparing engineers, whether that’s for their next job or their next degree. I’m a testament to that,” he said.

9. Playing with fire, literally

Stephen Jones wasn’t a mischievous child, his father says. But he did occasionally get into trouble.

“He was out in a wooded area that was surrounded with expensive homes. He went out to play with matches, and it got away from him,” Jerry Jones recalls.

The fire department rushed to the scene to contain the blaze, which threatened to destroy the homes.

Another time, Stephen Jones was suspended from school for three days after getting caught drinking beer in the eighth grade. Jerry Jones drove his son to the University of Arkansas campus and took him to the school’s football stadium.

“I stood him out there beside the field and explained to him: ‘If you plan on playing football, you can’t do that and associate in any way with alcohol.’” — From a Dallas Morning News story by David Tarrant on Sept. 1, 1996.

10. Superstitions and Super Bowl rings

Stephen Jones is a bit superstitious.

“If you’re riding in a car and a black cat crosses the road, he’ll stop and turn around. He won’t cross that path no matter what,” Karen Jones says. He adheres to an elaborate routine during Cowboys games, always taking the same lucky items to the stadium. “He’ll take a cross in his pocket that his high school priest gave him. And his Super Bowl rings — he’ll put these on at different times during the games. Last year, he wore the same blue sports jacket to every game.” — From a Dallas Morning News story by David Tarrant on Sept. 1, 1996.

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.