Customer Reviews

Playing to Win: Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys

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Since relocating to Dallas 1976 and then closely following developments in the Cowboys' organization, I already knew a great deal about Jerry Jones after he purchased the team in 1989. However, until reading David Magee's book, I did not fully appreciate Jones's business acumen nor fully understand why he made several especially important (and controversial) decisions as the Cowboys' owner, president, and general manager. With great skill, Magee fills in the details about why Jones risked his entire net worth when purchasing the team, why he immediately fired Tom Landry as head coach, why he also fired so many other long-term members of the staff (notably Tex Schramm and Gil Brandt), why he hired Jimmy Johnson to succeed Landry, why his relationship with Johnson eventually failed but his relationship with Bill Parcells didn't, why he roams the sideline during games (usually when the team is struggling), and why Jones has in recent years become the most influential team owner, not only in the NFL but in all professional leagues.

Long ago, the NFL adopted policies for revenue sharing that would enable smaller media market teams (e.g. Green Bay Packers) to be competitive with larger media market teams (e.g. New York Giants). The NFL owned all television contracts and as revenue from them rapidly increased, these policies were strictly enforced but were not applicable to control of the stadiums in which games were played. Only a few teams owned their stadiums and most of the other teams essentially rented them. Jones complied with the policies and in fact helped to negotiate ever-larger television contracts but questioned control of team licensing. Magee notes that Jones has always had an uncanny ability to recognize and then take full advantage of underutilized assets. That is how he succeeded in oil and gas exploration and that is why he entered into sponsorship agreements with Pepsi and Dr. Pepper, Nike, and American Express. After lengthy litigation during which "the league had no leg to stand on" (Jones owned Texas Stadium, the league did not), a settlement was reached that allowed all teams (including the Cowboys) to control team-specific licensing. As further evidence of Jones's business acumen, it is also worth noting that he and his associates purchased the team for about $150-million in 1989 and Forbes magazine recently estimated the current worth of the franchise to be $1.5-billion. That will increase even more, once the new ($1.2-billion) stadium is completed in time for the 2009 season.

Whenever appropriate, Magee provides appropriate biographical information about Jones's childhood and youth, his family (especially the relationship with his father), the years at Arkansas where he played on the football team with Jimmy Johnson (and was captain of one that won a national championship), his earlier career in oil and gas exploration in partnership with his father, and his initial and unsuccessful efforts to purchase an NFL team, the San Diego Chargers. Magee also notes that, after Jones gained full ownership of the Dallas Cowboys, his wife, two sons, and a daughter comprised its senior management, each ably filling an important (rather than perfunctory) position. Although Jones continues to make all the major decisions, Magee points out that he has become much more adroit at involving others in the decision-making process. During his tenure, the Cowboys have won three Super Bowls and numerous NFC championships.

David Magee provides a remarkably balanced analysis of Jerry Jones, discussing both his strengths and weaknesses as the owner, president, and general manager of "America's Team." By the way, that is a designation by Bob Ryan when selecting a title for a film that reviewed the Cowboys' 1978 season. At that time, Ryan was vice president and editor-in-chief of NFL Films. As he later explained, "I wanted to come up with a different twist on their team highlight film. I noticed then, and had noticed earlier, that wherever the Cowboys played, you saw people in the stands with Cowboys jerseys and hats and pennants. Plus, they were always the national game on television."

Frankly, I was among many others in Dallas whose first impressions of Jones were that he resembled a character out of a William Faulkner novel, that his firing of Tom Landy was inept and disrespectful (Jones agrees), and that his boorish personality and lack of any NFL experience (other than as a spectator) would accelerate further deterioration of a once-proud franchise. Those of us who were most critical of him then did not understand, much less appreciate his passion to own an NFL team and his determination (obsession?) for the Cowboys to be a "winner" in terms of both victories and profits, eventually becoming one of the most successful sports organizations in the world.

I am grateful to David Magee for this enlightening as well as lively profile of a truly unique entrepreneur who continues to pursue compelling visions with passion and persistence. In the business world as in competitive sports, there is a "scoreboard" by which measure success. To his substantial credit, Jerry Jones continues to be a winner in terms of both the bottom line and the final score. How does he do it? It's all there in Magee's book.

If you are an avid professional football fan, let alone a diehard Cowboy supporter, this book may not be for you. The book covers the period from 1989 (when Jerry Jones bought the team) to the end of 2007 season. As a serious football fan, although not of the Cowboys, I was expecting to get plenty of behind-the-scenes tidbits of what contribute into Jones's character, values and his decision making process with the players, coaches and organization, that haven't been covered by media.

Instead, the book reads more like a collection of scrapbook snapshots from the time span rather than detailed inside stories retrieved from a personal diary. This is despite the author's claimed unlimited access to Jones and his organization. Most football fans who followed the Cowboys during their '90s glory days would easily recall 60-80% of the contents of this book.

To his credit, the author presents his materials in an easy-read, quick-flow format. He can do away with repeated uses of complete people references throughout the book, such as "team owner and general manager Jerry Jones". The book is valuable overview for casual sports fans who want to learn more about Dallas Cowboys and its flashy owner. Unfortunately, it leaves the more serious football followers longing for a lot more.

For more comprehensive readings about the Cowboys, I'd recommend the following:
Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty. An inside look into the star players of the Cowboys teams from the '90s and mainly their lives off the field.
King of the Cowboys: The Life and Times of Jerry Jones. Published in 1995, this relatively unknown book provides deeper details into oft-controversial character of Jerry Jones, before and after he purchased the Cowboys.