{"id":80369,"date":"2025-08-19T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369"},"modified":"2025-08-19T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T22:00:00","slug":"how-the-dallas-cowboys-became-the-most-valuable-sports-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369","title":{"rendered":"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jerry Jones in <em>America\u2019s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys<\/em> Credit – Courtesy of Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable sports franchise in the world. In the most recent edition of Forbes\u2019 annual ranking, the Cowboys were valued at an astonishing $10.1 billion, the only 11-figure team in the world. They\u2019re a full $1.3 billion above second place (the NBA\u2019s Golden State Warriors). And they\u2019re nearly $3 billion ahead of the next NFL team, the Los Angeles Rams, valued at $7.6 billion. How exactly did the Cowboys\u2014who haven\u2019t won a Super Bowl in 30 years\u2014become the highest-valued sports team on Earth?<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the questions explored in the new Netflix docuseries America\u2019s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys. <\/em>Focusing on notoriously splashy Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who purchased the team for $140 million in 1989, the eight-episode series presents highlights from thousands of hours of archival footage (including plenty of cheerleading, a focus of Netflix\u2019s America\u2019s Sweethearts: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders<\/em>, which was just renewed for a third season) and interviews, as well as new interviews from Jones and other NFL figureheads from across the league, to paint a portrait of the Cowboys’ success.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>How the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Got a 400% Pay Raise<\/em><\/p>\n

Jerry Jones\u2019 playbook for greatness<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\n

\"How<\/p>\n

<\/dialog><\/div>
An archival photo of Jerry Jones from America\u2019s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys<\/em>Courtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jones took great inspiration from his father, Pat Jones, who told him, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to make it bigger than life. You gotta add a little sizzle to it.\u201d The elder Jones ran a grocery store, and his salesmanship left an indelible impact on Jerry, who refers to him as a \u201cmaster marketer.\u201d Pat would put bandstands in the middle of the store, he\u2019d host amateur talent contests\u2014anything to get attention and to differentiate their store from all the others. It was about making something so big, you simply had no choice but to pay attention to it.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Jones attended the University of Arkansas in the early 1960s, playing football and writing his master’s thesis on \u201cThe Role of Oral Communication in Modern-Day Intercollegiate Football.\u201d At that time, pro sports, according to Jones, had no money in it, merely \u201ca hobby for rich people.\u201d His thesis proposed the key tenets for what would become essential to making the Cowboys a financial powerhouse: bringing on brand sponsorships, establishing the team brand, creating unprecedented levels of loyalty, and involving fans, companies, and services in new ways.<\/p>\n

Thirty years later, these marketing principles became enshrined in Jones\u2019 work as the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. In 1992, Jones introduced pep rallies at the Cowboys Texas Stadium. A staple of College Football, pep rallies were unprecedented for a professional football team. The rally was attended by approximately 70,000 fans to send off the Cowboys before their NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. \u201cI was trying to create a collegiate enthusiasm for the Dallas Cowboys,\u201d says Jones in the docuseries. College Football has deeply entrenched traditions and longstanding rivalries, of which pep rallies are a staple. While the NFL has 32 teams (28 teams back in 92) in large cities, College Football is prominent in every state. Nebraska, for example, lacks an NFL team, but the University of Nebraska Huskers have sold out every game in their 85,000-capacity stadium since 1962. Jones was keen to capitalize on the boundless passion Americans had at the college level, and introducing pep rallies was a big way to entrench fans into the world of the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys went on to win that NFC Championship game and delivered a commanding victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XVII, their first Super Bowl since 1977. They were exceptionally dominant throughout the 1990s, winning back-to-back Super Bowls with another win over the Bills in XVIII. That was quickly followed by a third win in Super Bowl XXX in 1995, over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Cowboys’ blue star logo rapidly rose as one of the most recognizable images in America, and the team’s star athletes regularly graced the cover of magazines, including Sports Illustrated<\/em> and The Sporting News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Pushing beyond traditional media<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\n

\"How<\/p>\n

<\/dialog><\/div>
Troy Aikman, right, shown in America’s Team<\/em>Courtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But they also appeared outside sports magazines, as when quarterback Troy Aikman graced a September 1993 GQ<\/em> cover hailed as \u201cGod\u2019s Quarterback.\u201d Appearances by players on Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall, and David Letterman\u2019s shows became standard. Football season only lasts between September and February, but Jones pushed the Cowboys players to be in the public eye year-round.<\/em> Running Back Emmitt Smith was in 1994\u2019s Little Giants<\/em>. Wide Receiver Michael Irvin and Aikman appeared in Jerry Maguire<\/em>. Aikman also cameoed in a 1999 episode of The Simpsons<\/em> (the Cowboys are Homer Simpson\u2019s favorite team).<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Jones made countless commercial and TV appearances, and even Head Coach Jimmy Johnson appeared as himself in episodes of Coach<\/em>, New York Daze<\/em>, and Arli<\/em>ss through the \u201890s, including in the 1998 Adam Sandler-led The Waterboy<\/em>. Jones\u2019 thesis of brand sponsorships was coming to fruition, with commercials for Reebok, Lays, McDonald’s, Brut, and other companies airing regularly. \u201cThat constant buildup of interest and attention, that\u2019s where the value is,\u201d says Jones. \u201cI want to make sure it’s a soap opera year-round, and the world\u2019s going to know that the Dallas Cowboys are your team.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1995, Jones took corporate sponsorship to a new level, breaking with the NFL in the process. Alongside Nike CEO Phil Knight, Jones announced that the Cowboys had entered an exclusive sponsorship arrangement with Nike. That year, the Cowboys had already accounted for one-fifth of all NFL merchandise sales. As the New York Times <\/em>described the deal with Nike, which was not an NFL sponsor: \u201cFor the price of $2.5 million a year through 2001, [Jones] let Nike paint its trademark swoosh on the Cowboys’ stadium, develop a theme park at the stadium, and outfit all Cowboys coaches and other sideline personnel in Nike-made attire.\u201d Jones made the announcement during a nationally-televised Monday Night Football game, and distributed a news release that claimed \u201cCowboys Owner Bucks NFL Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

This move, according to the NFL itself, violated the agreements teams have with the National Football League. The Cowboys were prohibited from making a deal with Nike, as all sponsorships were made at a league level, and profits were split equally between all teams. Jones encouraged teams to push back against this model, with each team taking their own profits for their own merchandise. Before the Nike deal, Jones had made a deal with Pepsi earlier in the year for them to be the exclusive drinks seller at the Cowboys’ Texas stadium, in the face of the NFL-wide deal with Coca-Cola. He also signed a deal to make American Express the official credit card of the Cowboys, despite Visa being the official card of the entire NFL. The NFL sued Jones for $300 million, resulting in a $700 million countersuit. The suits were settled out of court, changing the NFL forever with Jones\u2019 vision ruling the day: Now, teams could control their own sponsorships and their own financial destinies.<\/p>\n

The larger-than-life ethos continues<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\n

\"How<\/p>\n

<\/dialog><\/div>
Jones in America\u2019s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys<\/em>Courtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jones\u2019 corporate dealings were a risk that paid off massively, catapulting the Cowboys to the staggering financial success they now enjoy, regardless of whether they win or lose. And it all played into the ethos Jerry Jones learned from his father: If you make things bigger than life, people can\u2019t help but take notice.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Everything about the Cowboys remains larger than life, with Jones still at the helm. In 2009, the organization completed the building of AT&T Stadium, which has the largest capacity in the NFL at 80,000, increasing to a stunning 100,000 when you include standing room. It\u2019s three times the size of the previous Cowboys home, Texas Stadium. AT&T pays upward of $19 million a year for naming rights. It\u2019s full of private bars and clubs, among other amenities (including a monumental 600-ton jumbotron 90 feet above the field), physically manifesting the mentality of Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n

Though 1995 was the Cowboys’ last Super Bowl win, the media frenzy over the Cowboys is still going strong. In the upcoming 2025 season, the Cowboys have the second most primetime games with six, more than the reigning Super Bowl champs the Philadelphia Eagles. That\u2019s a remarkable feat considering they finished the 2024 season with an underwhelming 7-10 record. The \u201890s found nearly every Cowboys game being played on televisions across America, and that\u2019s not changed much 30 years later. This ubiquity has allowed the Cowboys to become synonymous with the sport itself. You may not know anything about football, but you know the Dallas Cowboys are a football team. And you have Jerry Jones to thank for that.<\/p>\n

Contact us<\/strong> at letters@time.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Netflix docuseries ‘America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys’ shows how Jerry Jones made the team a behemoth in sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":80370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3124,355,54,958,264,3122,586,3125,9,3123,327,27,12,974],"class_list":["post-80369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-americas-team","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-jerry-jones","tag-jerry-maguire","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-michael-irvin","tag-nfl","tag-pat-jones","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-the-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"\nHow the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Netflix docuseries 'America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys' shows how Jerry Jones made the team a behemoth in sports.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T22:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369\",\"name\":\"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T22:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-19T22:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\",\"name\":\"MrThanh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrThanh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team - NEWS USA","og_description":"The Netflix docuseries 'America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys' shows how Jerry Jones made the team a behemoth in sports.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-08-19T22:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrThanh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrThanh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369","name":"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-19T22:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-19T22:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/avtvip-83-4.jpg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=80369#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How the Dallas Cowboys Became the Most Valuable Sports Team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec","name":"MrThanh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrThanh"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80371,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80369\/revisions\/80371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}