Jerry Jones owns the most valuable franchise in all of sports. Here’s how he built the financially troubled Cowboys into a $9 billion empire.
Jennifer BubelEnglish_ASUpdate: Jun 30th, 2024 17:04 EDT0
The 81-year-old billionaire Jerry Jones we know now may seem like a money-hungry villain who has spent more on the Dallas Cowboys brand than actually helping them win Super Bowls, but he was once a savior for the team, and his work in making the Cowboys the most valuable sports franchise in the world has contributed to the growth of businesses throughout North Texas.
The Dallas Cowboys can win a Super Bowl with Dak Prescott at QB. He was an MVP Candidate for most of last season. Dak isn’t the issue. The Culture that Jerry Jones has created is. The first step to fixing the issue is acknowledging that there is a problem. pic.twitter.com/4EJlORipZt
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 5, 2024
But how did Jerry Jones take the Cowboys, who were on the verge of bankruptcy, from a $140 million investment to a money-making machine and amass a billion-dollar fortune of his own in the process?
From grocery store greeter to business flops to oil to the richest NFL owner
Even before he was the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones was a businessman. He attended the University of Arkansas, where he became known as “the Razorback businessman” because he sold life insurance to businessmen and shoes to fraternity members. His first big business venture after graduating from college in 1965 was a flop. He decided to invest in Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, the first franchise pizza chain in the United States, which had seven different locations across Dallas/Fort Worth. The business peaked in the 1970s, and Jones borrowed $1 million from the Teamsters Union for it. But by 1989, every shop had closed down.
Just a year out of college, he also considered buying the San Diego Chargers football team, but was talked out of it by his father. Jones’ parents were initially grocery store owners of a store called Pat’s Supermarket, where he also worked as a greeter when he was young. Eventually though, his father became a successful insurance salesman for Modern Life Security, and when Shakey’s didn’t work out, Jones went to work for him as the executive vice president. When the company was sold in 1970, Jones got $500,000.
Eventually, Jones went where the money was – oil. He began an oil and gas exploration business in Arkansas called Jones Oil and Land Lease and got extremely lucky, striking oil in 12 of his first 13 wells. The first of those brought $4 million in oil. That was the stepping stone for the next move, which would come to make him one of the richest sports team owners in the world.
Jones buys the Cowboys
In 1989, when Jerry Jones was 46 years old, he bought the Cowboys for $140 million from then owner H.R. “Bum” Bright. At the time, that was the biggest deal in NFL history. Currently, the Cowboys are the richest team in the NFL with $1.1 billion in revenue, an operating income of $504 million, and is worth $9 billion, according to Forbes.
That’s quite the drastic change, I’d say. It started with the firing of the Cowboys’ first and only head coach Tom Landry and hiring of Arkansas teammate Jimmy Johnson. Jones then made himself the general manager and put himself in charge of player personnel. From then until 1995, the Cowboys won three Super Bowls. In addition to the changes he made to the team itself, Jones made them into a brand with TV appearances, star players, and the now famous cheerleaders.
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Jerry Jones in 1993 interview: “Give them all the players. Give them all the draft picks. Give them the quarterback too. We’re going to win because we’re the Dallas Cowboys. We believe that.” pic.twitter.com/TPrwyTOjou
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) July 3, 2019
He was the first to get his own sponsorship deals at Texas Stadium, the Cowboys’ former home, in 1995. Before that, the league handled sponsorship deals and split the money evenly among the 32 teams. Jones signed a 10-year, $40 million deal with Pepsi-Cola and made a $2.5 million deal with Nike. By 2021, he had announced a 10-year extension to a $200 million deal with Molson Coors.
Since then, he’s launched a Cowboys merchandising company, become a partial owner of Papa Johns Pizza, which became the official pizza of the Cowboys and sponsor at the stadium, and moved the team into a billion-dollar stadium that has sold out crowds since its opening. As the host to events, concerts, and other sports games besides just NFL, the stadium brings a ton of revenue to the city, as thousands of people spend money on hotels, restaurants, and retail outlets in the area.
His other money-making ventures include a hospitality management business called Legends, a merchandising company called 289c Apparel, a high-class gym called Cowboys Fit with locations across the metroplex, purchased land, and managing and maintaining The Star in Frisco which serves as the Cowboys’ practice facility.
