Moments in NFL History: Long shot pays off for 'America's Team,' NFL
NFL
In 1989, the NBA was riding the tailwind of a Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry that propelled the league to the top of the sports world. Professional football, battling baseball and basketball for intrigue, was in dire need of direction to regain national interest.
The resurgence would come in the form of a 46-year-old oil and gas businessman who was working behind the scenes to ink a record-breaking deal to purchase “America’s Team” for approximately $140 million, changing the course of professional sports forever.
On this day, Feb. 25, 1989, JERRY JONES officially purchased the Dallas Cowboys from H.R. “Bum” Bright. The deal, approved by NFL owners a week later, was the first time a sports franchise sold for more than $100 million.
Jones purchased the Cowboys at a time when the U.S. economy was nearing the 1990s recession. Football was viewed as a rich man’s sport; one built for wealthy owners who could afford to lose a few million dollars in exchange for ownership in a game they loved.
For Jones, who invested nearly his entire fortune of $90 million in cash and took out a loan for the remaining $50 million or so, this wasn’t an option.
“He had to generate revenue, pay debt and change the thought process among his fellow owners,” said Jones’ accountant, Jack Dixon. “Jerry wanted to win as much as anyone, but he was going to run the Cowboys as a business. He was going to make them profitable."
Almost immediately, Jones controversially fired head coach TOM LANDRY and hired another future Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach, JIMMY JOHNSON, who had previous head-coaching stints in college football at Oklahoma State and the University of Miami, where he won a national championship in 1987.
Together with Johnson, Jones selected Hall of Fame quarterback TROY AIKMAN in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft. Among other moves, including the Herschel Walker trade that led to the acquisition of Hall of Famer EMMITT SMITH and Darren Woodson, Jones built the Cowboys into three-time Super Bowl champions in the 1990s.
More consequential than roster and staff management, Jones turned the Cowboys into a national brand.
“This guy was so far beyond what anyone else was thinking at the time,” Aikman’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, said. “He was talking about branding, TV contracts, independent deals of the NFL, naming rights for stadiums, sponsorships.
“Jerry got it, he saw what the league could be financially. I’ve never met anyone who could envision the future like Jerry can.”
Among the monumental changes initiated by Jones was a settled lawsuit with the NFL in a battle for his own brand. After being sued for $300 million, he countersued for $700 million, and eventually settled, earning every NFL team the right to its own brand and the NFL the rights to the Super Bowl logo and collective brand.
“I thought the publicity alone would be worth the fight,” Jones said.
That mantra was the catalyst for his career.
If it could garner a headline or pique national interest, the suave businessman was all in.
Forever immortalized in Canton, Ohio, Jones was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 for his contributions to professional football.
The resurgence would come in the form of a 46-year-old oil and gas businessman who was working behind the scenes to ink a record-breaking deal to purchase “America’s Team” for approximately $140 million, changing the course of professional sports forever.
On this day, Feb. 25, 1989, JERRY JONES officially purchased the Dallas Cowboys from H.R. “Bum” Bright. The deal, approved by NFL owners a week later, was the first time a sports franchise sold for more than $100 million.
Jones purchased the Cowboys at a time when the U.S. economy was nearing the 1990s recession. Football was viewed as a rich man’s sport; one built for wealthy owners who could afford to lose a few million dollars in exchange for ownership in a game they loved.
For Jones, who invested nearly his entire fortune of $90 million in cash and took out a loan for the remaining $50 million or so, this wasn’t an option.
“He had to generate revenue, pay debt and change the thought process among his fellow owners,” said Jones’ accountant, Jack Dixon. “Jerry wanted to win as much as anyone, but he was going to run the Cowboys as a business. He was going to make them profitable."
Almost immediately, Jones controversially fired head coach TOM LANDRY and hired another future Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach, JIMMY JOHNSON, who had previous head-coaching stints in college football at Oklahoma State and the University of Miami, where he won a national championship in 1987.
Together with Johnson, Jones selected Hall of Fame quarterback TROY AIKMAN in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft. Among other moves, including the Herschel Walker trade that led to the acquisition of Hall of Famer EMMITT SMITH and Darren Woodson, Jones built the Cowboys into three-time Super Bowl champions in the 1990s.
More consequential than roster and staff management, Jones turned the Cowboys into a national brand.
“This guy was so far beyond what anyone else was thinking at the time,” Aikman’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, said. “He was talking about branding, TV contracts, independent deals of the NFL, naming rights for stadiums, sponsorships.
“Jerry got it, he saw what the league could be financially. I’ve never met anyone who could envision the future like Jerry can.”
Among the monumental changes initiated by Jones was a settled lawsuit with the NFL in a battle for his own brand. After being sued for $300 million, he countersued for $700 million, and eventually settled, earning every NFL team the right to its own brand and the NFL the rights to the Super Bowl logo and collective brand.
“I thought the publicity alone would be worth the fight,” Jones said.
That mantra was the catalyst for his career.
If it could garner a headline or pique national interest, the suave businessman was all in.
Forever immortalized in Canton, Ohio, Jones was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 for his contributions to professional football.