We all know the Cowboys are still a very popular team in TV ratings and in monetary value. JJ often crows about the monetary value of the Cowboys more often than he talks about wins. And why not? What else can he brag about? It’s certainly not been about playoff wins around here for a very long time.
Part of the current problem with JJ being the centerpiece of the entire organization is he fails to understand several fundamental “sports truths”- things that are accurate about sports and winning championships. Here is a list of sports truths I wish Jerry Jones would grasp:
- Winning championships is the greatest sales pitch in sports. Jerry is a great salesman. He wouldn’t have to sell anything if they started winning playoff games.
- The Cowboys aren’t popular because of business decisions- they are popular because they used to win a lot of playoff games. The Cowboys were extremely popular before JJ bought the team. Why? Because our Cowboys played in 8 of the first 30 SBs. (Now, we’ve missed 26 in a row) The Cowboys won 31 playoff games in its first 36 years. We’ve won 4 in the last 26.
- Fans really don’t care how much their favorite team is worth. Especially when they don’t win anything of importance anymore.
- Not all publicity is good publicity. Negative stories (like player arrests or other off field distractions) are never good for the team’s ability to focus on winning.
- Nepotism is bad for large organizations where accountability is needed. Most NFL owners recognize that hiring their kids for football operation decisions is detrimental to team success. There is a lot of research available now that shows that nepotism is disruptive to organizational health.
- Being an NFL owner is one of the easiest, risk-free ways to make big money. Even the Jaguars owner made big bucks last year because of revenue sharing and big TV deals. NFL teams’ value has gone up exponentially in the last decade. An NFL owner could go 0-17 this year and still make tons of money.
I’m glad the Cowboys are popular. But I know it’s based almost entirely on its glorious past. I just wish our owner would wake up and realize some of these sports truths. Fans don’t care about how much money this team is worth. It’s about winning championships.
