Dallas cowboy salary: Dallas Cowboys 2022 Salary Cap Table

It was Dallas that in 2015 became the first club in the world to break the $ 4 billion mark, the club’s operating income is estimated at $ 350 million per season with a total revenue of $ 864 million. In 2019 first year to break the $5 billion mark.

Jerry Jones (pictured) is an American billionaire who has owned the club since 1989. Now he is 77 years old, he is still not only the owner, but also the president and general manager. Jerry is gradually letting his sons into the management: the eldest, Stephen (he is 55) works as the CEO, Jerry Jones Jr. (50) is the director of sales and marketing.

Jerry Jones first became interested in buying a club at 1966th year. At 23, the graduate of the University of Arkansas did not yet have capital, but the desire to manage an American football team flared up. He played in college himself, saw a passionate interest in the sport, and realized that doing business in the industry could be mega-profitable. He shared his idea only with his wife, hid it even from his father (he understood that he would call the idea stupid) and began to look for meetings with club leaders: he simply came to hotels when any events took place and hoped to catch someone talking valuable in the lobby.

After one of these hookups, he was offered a minority role in a club that was about to become a new member of the NFL – Jones turned it down because he wanted to fully steer. At the same time, he found out that San Diego Chargers was for sale and even agreed on a price beforehand – a ridiculous $ 5. 8 million for the current market, he was promised money by the same investors with whom he had previously opened a pizzeria in Missouri.

The seller of the Chargers was Barron Hilton, the son of the founder of the hotel chain, who by that time had inherited the business. The offer had to be withdrawn when Jerry needed only $50,000 to pay for the exclusive rights to negotiate – he came to his father, he did not give money and dissuaded him from buying. Jones went into his father’s insurance business, then rose in the oil industry and bought himself a club only when he lived the same amount – after 23 years.

Barron Hilton

By 1989, the Dallas Cowboys were in decline both as a team and as a club. The team went 12 years without a title (after two Super Bowl victories, in 1971 and 1977, it looked like a failure), the club gradually got into debt, generated a million dollar loss every month and was approaching bankruptcy. By February 1989, it came to external management, 13% of the shares had already passed to the local administration, in the near future the authorities were going to take another 40%.

At that moment, Jones took advantage of the situation: he contributed $15 million to close his debts, bought the stadium where the team played for $65 million, and acquired 60% of the club for about $60 million – not buying the whole thing yet (this will happen later), but it was enough to make all decisions independently. Nobody spent more in sports before him. In addition, Jones had to make monthly payments on an 11 percent loan he had taken out for the purchase.

By the way, Donald Trump could have saved the club even earlier, he was close to being bought in 1984. At the time, the club was worth $50 million, but Trump ultimately deemed the investment worthless. After sorting out the financial details, he explained to the New York Times: “I feel very sorry for the unfortunate guy who buys the Dallas Cowboys. This is a situation in which there is simply no winning solution. If he starts to win, okay, this team has won before. And if he constantly loses (which is most likely because the club has real problems), the world will recognize this person as a real loser.

Jerry Jones still found a way to win and develop the club in a way that he could be proud of.

Jones’ first press conference as owner of the Dallas Cowboys began an hour and a half late. Even before the initial communication with journalists, Jerry launched the process, which he later described as “cleansing the house.” The first thing he did was fire the coach, and that decision cannot be underestimated when you realize the fact that the Dallas Cowboys had played 29 seasons by that point, and Tom Landry was their coach all the time. He took command at 1960th in his 30s, took two titles in the middle of the segment, got rid of him before the start of the new season, he did not work a day under Jones. Jimmie Johnson, a university friend of the new owner, became the coach and led the team for five seasons. Jason Garrett’s longest record since Landry is nine.

From the outside, Jones seemed like a manager with an iron fist, in addition to the head coach, he fired many employees from the office (president, chief of finance, chief scout, even the main photographer – the new boss believed that the club did not need to spend on 130 staff when in other clubs manage 30). Although, in fact, many years later, Jerry admitted that just at that moment his hands were trembling very often: “If you saw how I then brought a cup of tea to my mouth or tried to drink at night, you would understand. I always had to hold the glass with both hands so as not to spill it – I was so nervous. This is what I had post-traumatic syndrome. Injury in this context is a record-breaking investment in the American sports market.

Success in the sports field came after only four years, and in the mid-90s it generally approached the status of a dynasty: the team took the title in 1992, defended it in 1993 and returned it in 1995. Of course, more wins helped the economy, but off the field, Jerry Jones also immediately launched a very active breakthrough work.

In 1993, the NFL’s television contract was expiring – it was expected that none of the usual players (ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT, ESPN) would be able to offer even a comparable amount. The clubs were thinking about how to compensate for the shortfall in deductions. Jerry Jones, who had already gained representative weight, unexpectedly connected the FOX Network to the process – by that time FOX already had the super-successful The X-Files, The Simpsons and Married with Children, but the channel still lacked a flagship product. FOX decided on a generous offer ($1.58 billion for the season), the stakes had to be increased by all players, as a result, the NFL earned about $5.5 billion and paid the clubs $177 million. Such a surge in income even affected the salary cap, it was raised from $32 million to 34, although a decrease was expected. That is why the arrival of FOX, which Jones contributed to, is considered one of the turning points in the development of the entire league.

Even before this, Jerry had a massive renovation of life inside his stadium. At the start of the first season, he insisted that cheerleaders should wear more attractive clothes. A 1989 Los Angeles Times article describes the line-up: “Currently, cheerleading uniforms are shorts, long-sleeved blue T-shirts tied at the front so that the midriff is partially exposed, fringed bolero jackets, and white boots. Shorts made of elastic material (which Jones was going to introduce) will fit tightly to the body, and in a blouse with spaghetti straps, the arms and back will be left almost entirely bare.

The text is full of comments from outraged girls who didn’t agree to the new look (14 out of 35 cheerleaders left the club), the organizer of the cheerleading club, Suzanne Mitchell, also refused to work further after 15 years in the club. Jones simply insisted that girls in 1989 should not look the same as twenty years ago. Naturally, in the new season everything was as he wanted.

Another move by Jones for which the whole league later thanked him: Jerry decided to go head-to-head with the NFL at 1995th. The club was by then attractive as a multiple Super Bowl winner, and the boss signed four sponsorship contracts worth $60 million for a short period: with Nike, Pepsi, American Express and AT&T – four giants in different industries. The NFL was annoyed by the second and third positions of the list, because the league had contracts with Coca-Cola and Visa.

Such marketing was considered guerrilla, the negotiations did not lead to anything. The NFL went to court, Jones filed a counterclaim – after a year of almost meaningless disputes, the parties withdrew the statements, the league had to recognize the right of the club to act in its own interests. Naturally, the Dallas example inspired other championship participants to work out their own contracts.

Seven years later, in the changed world of 2002, the NFL re-signed with Reebok, at which point Jones staged a revolt against the even distribution of revenue from the global contract and sales of merchandise. He argued that in fact the clubs cannot be considered equivalent to the league (of course, he hinted at the increased value of Dallas and was right: the Cowboys provided 16% of the NFL merchandise revenue for five seasons, the peak was 1994 – 28 %). Jones demanded special conditions and received them: he guaranteed that he would provide the spent 16%, and everything above remained with the club.

In 2009, Jones founded a separate company, 289c Apparel, to manage everything related to the clothing industry. She quickly expanded the standard assortment of Cowboys, since 2011 she began to work independently and also with university teams interested in growing merchandise sales. At the same time, the organization remains affiliated with Dallas, respectively, its revenue is taken into account in the financial result of the club.

The beer at the stadium is also a merit of Jones, at the beginning of 90’s, he won a dispute over this with the state authorities. Jerry prepared the attack for two years, and in the end he managed to get the issue put to a vote, everyone supported the idea there (because Jones managed to prove that the ban is contrary to the constitution). As a result, the stadium was legally recognized as a special type of object that does not fall under restrictions, and not only beer, but also wine appeared at Texas Stadium.

Jerry Jones created the basis for rapid financial growth in the second half of the 1990s and throughout the 2000s. Here are some more club moves and boss decisions that made more money.

Back in the 70s, Dallas got the unofficial nickname America’s team. There is a separate story about this name: at first they were going to call the Pittsburgh Stillers in the documentary. Dan Rooney, the eldest son of Stillers founder Art Rooney, said: “In 1976, the Pittsburgh Stillers beat the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. Pete Rozelle, who was then NFL commissioner, called my father and said that NFL Films was making a documentary. In the movie, the NFL wants to call the Stillers “Team America.” To which Art Rooney replied to Roselle: “We are not the team of America – we are the Pittsburgh Steelworkers.

After Pittsburgh, an offer went to Dallas. It is believed that such a nickname appeared in 1978 in a documentary about the “Dallas Cowboys”, dedicated to the results of the year. It begins with the line: “These are the Dallas Cowboys, Team America.” In 2001, Jerry Jones decided to make merch with this bright and immodest nickname, in 2013 he registered such a trademark.

In 2001, “Dallas went beyond American football: the Cowboys Golf Club opened in Texas, a top-level golf resort that was actually not related to the team and simply attracted high-level customers through the brand : businessmen and travelers. Jerry Jones calls the golf club Dallas’ springboard to other areas. The golf location has been successfully operating so far, it remains the only themed golf course for NFL clubs.

Jones realized that only Texas as a territory of influence was not enough for him. He bought a training base in California for Dallas and since 2001 began to periodically take the team there during the preseason. Studies conducted by the NFL showed that the Cowboys were the most popular club in the league in almost the entire California territory. Although Texas and California are not even neighboring states, the road between them lies through New Mexico and Arizona.

In 2002, the club continued its activities outside the NFL, opening the Dallas Desperados, a team in the Arena Football League (the indoor analogue of American football). “Desperados” immediately began to gather full stands, successfully sell paraphernalia and work in the black. True, by 2009-mu financial situation worsened and the project was simply abandoned.

In 2008, Jerry Jones co-founded Legends Hospitality Management with the New York Yankees, Goldman Sachs, and CIC Partners, a Dallas-based investment fund, to take care of everything from ticketing and catering to entertainment. , sale of sponsorship opportunities. In nine years of operation, Legends has achieved annual revenues of $750 million, among their clients, in addition to the Cowboys and Yankees, are Manchester City, San Francisco Photoniners, North Dam University, IndyCar, Dallas Mavericks and other large partners.

In 2009, the 105,000th stadium was opened, to which Dallas immediately moved – the arena was first called Cowboys Stadium, then the naming rights were sold to the media giant AT&T for record money. The stadium is often referred to as Jerry’s world after Jones, primarily because of the number and variety inside.

Many mistakenly believe that the arena belongs to Dallas, or specifically to Jerry Jones, but in fact it is owned by the Arlington administration, and the club annually pays $2 million in rent and $500,000 in city shares for the commercial name. But inside, everything is done in accordance with the ideas and wishes of Jerry, so characterizing the arena as the world of Jones is also quite fair. There, Dallas manages to grow revenue year after year and increase the average check: for example, in 2016, a fan spent an average of $67 inside, and in 2018, already $81. Of the $5.0 billion in total brand value, almost a quarter comes from the stadium itself.

The Dallas Cowboys photo project has definitely become a high-profile event in September 2019 in the world of sports marketing. Now in the lobby of the stadium there are automatic machines, which the organizers called “immersive columns”. In fact, they look more like photo booths rethought in the style of 2019: the fan selects his favorite team players on the touchscreen, they crawl out of the corner of the screen, greet him, and it’s time to pose.

While the fan is getting ready for the photo, those very favorite players one by one come out from behind him in the augmented reality mode – and in a few seconds you get an emotional photo for memory, which you can immediately post on social networks. It seems to be nothing complicated, but such a mixture of the basic need of the audience (photo with the team) and unexpected experience (no one has seen such interactive columns yet) produced a striking effect.

How it works can be seen at the link: Dallas Cowboys ingenious solution. How to take a photo with your idol

So what was it – and why didn’t anyone think of it before? The Dallas Cowboys, of course, did not make such columns themselves – this is a large project of the telecom conglomerate AT & T, which has long entered the territory of the NFL. First, for such a large company operating in all states, it is beneficial to maintain a local identity through partnership with a strong sports brand (and here everything converges: how strong is the Cowboys brand, and AT&T is headquartered in Dallas). Secondly, it is convenient to test developments at large stadiums: they are arranged like mini-cities where everyone needs the Internet, which can confidently cope with the heaviest stream of photo and video transfer. That is why AT&T is not just a sponsor of the Cowboys, but the owner of the naming rights of the stadium located near the central office (contract value is from 17 to 19million dollars a year).

But just a non-freezing photo and video stream in the conditions of full stands is a problem solved a long time ago. Another challenge facing the best US carriers is to prepare for the advent of 5G and take the lead in a new market segment.

Thanks to AT&T, the Dallas Cowboys stadium was the first to receive 5G technologies in early 2019 (of course, only for internal tests – standard smartphones that we use do not yet support such a signal). Now the competition has intensified: Verizon competitor at the start of the 2019 seasonturned the NFL into a testing ground by entering 13 stadiums, but AT&T absorbed this information noise through beautiful fan-engagement activations, which immediately responded with a series of responses on social networks (according to the Dallas Cowboys, the entire video with the Pose with the Pros has collected 50 million interactions: likes, comments, reposts).

AT&T makes no bones about the fact that the activities at Dallas Stadium are perfect for two needs: business testing and people entertainment. “Our goal is to bring the real world and the digital world together to deliver the ultimate audience experience,” says AT&T CEO Mo Katibe. “Sports is a great way to see how our business strategy delivers value to consumers.”

5G entertainment is not limited to interactive columns that are connected to mobile stations. In order for the fans to try something new, they were given a Samsung Galaxy S10 with 5G support in some areas of the stadium (regular smartphones are not yet ready for the new generation of communication, so their own would not work). For example, when pointing the camera at the arena, one could see giant figures of players who tower over the stadium and shout in support of the team.

And in parallel mode, the fans could dance as if they were next to the stars of the Cowboys, celebrating a touchdown. But the most interesting thing is already augmented reality on the podium. During the match, you can point the camera at the field and see all the statistics in real time: the related information will be conveniently placed on the screen (everything is almost like on TV, only you are really in a full stadium).

And if you get bored – you can play by releasing huge robots on the field.

“5G has the potential to change the whole stadium experience and even upend the expectations of audiences that are used to having a certain set of emotions and now face the unknown,” says Kelly King, vice president of AT&T Mobility and Entertainment. “We can safely say that we will do what previously seemed unimaginable – both in sports and in the entertainment industry in general.”

It makes sense given the evolution of cellular communication: with 1G, people could call each other at any time, 2G gave us text messages (SMS), 3G allowed us to have a stable Internet connection, 4G created a giant sector of the economy – for example, there were applications that simplify life thanks to the transfer of geolocation (taxi, delivery, etc. ). 5G will push the boundaries of what’s possible – we probably don’t even know how yet. “Some people think that 5G is just a faster connection, but in reality everything is bigger. When it comes to sports specifically, 5G will revolutionize it by blending physical and digital experiences,” says AT&T vice president Yigal Elbas.

“Once we have fully prepared the infrastructure for 5G, we will be able to use virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to entertain fans without any delay,” says Dallas Cowboys Brand Director Charlotte Anderson. – Our task now is to prepare the stadium. Our club is always leading the way and changing the perception of sports so that our atmosphere is unique.” And 5G experiments are only making the Dallas Cowboys more attractive.

Right now, the Dallas Cowboys is the most expensive sports club in the world, because Jerry Jones created all the necessary conditions for rapid financial growth ten or more years ago. Now the smart use of infrastructure, the application of a proven business approach and a focus on commercial success keeps the Cowboys at the top of the world rankings, and Jones has been made a living legend of commercialization.