How Jerry built the fortune
Jerry Jones built his first fortune in the oil and gas business in Arkansas and Oklahoma. After a stint in his father's insurance company and a failed attempt to start a chain of pizza restaurants, he turned to energy exploration in the 1970s. His firm, Jones Oil and Land Lease, leased mineral rights and drilled wells, and he hit a series of successful natural gas finds. In the 1980s he sold a major part of his exploration business, Arkoma Production, to the utility Arkla, giving him the capital for his next move.
In 1989 he bought the Dallas Cowboys and their stadium lease from H.R. Bright, paying a price that was then a record for an NFL franchise and that many observers considered too high. He immediately fired head coach Tom Landry, a beloved figure in Texas, and replaced him with his former college teammate Jimmy Johnson. The move was unpopular, but the team rebuilt quickly and won three Super Bowls in the 1992, 1993 and 1995 seasons.
The larger financial story is how Jones changed the business of the team. He pursued sponsorship and licensing deals aggressively, sometimes in conflict with the league's collective arrangements, and pushed the NFL toward bigger television contracts. In 2009 the Cowboys opened a vast new stadium in Arlington, now AT&T Stadium, and later built The Star in Frisco, a combined headquarters, practice facility and commercial district. These moves lifted the team's revenue far above most rivals and made the franchise the most valuable in the league. Because the team is privately held and rarely sells shares, its worth is set by outside estimates and by the prices paid in sales of other franchises, which have climbed steadily for decades.
Companies and holdings
The Dallas Cowboys and related businesses form the core of the family's wealth. Other holdings include:
- Legends Hospitality, a stadium food, merchandise and premium seating company co-founded by the Cowboys and the New York Yankees.
- A large stake in Comstock Resources, a natural gas producer in which Jones invested heavily beginning in 2018.
- Real estate in the Dallas area, including development around The Star in Frisco.
His children hold senior roles in the organization: Stephen Jones is chief executive and director of player personnel, Charlotte Jones is chief brand officer and Jerry Jones Jr. is chief sales and marketing officer.
Early life and career
Jerral Wayne Jones was born in 1942 in Los Angeles and grew up in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where his parents ran a grocery store and later an insurance business. He played football at the University of Arkansas, where he was a co-captain of the 1964 team that won a share of the national championship. Teammates on that team included Jimmy Johnson, later his first head coach in Dallas.
He earned a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree in business from Arkansas. Early on he tried, without success, to buy the San Diego Chargers in the 1960s, a sign that owning a team was a long standing ambition. He worked in the family insurance company before moving into oil and gas, which provided the money that later made the Cowboys purchase possible.
His years in the energy business taught him to take on large amounts of risk and debt, a pattern he has repeated with the Cowboys. He borrowed heavily to buy the team, financed the Arlington stadium with a mix of team money, league loans and public funds approved by local voters, and partnered with the city of Frisco and its school district to build The Star.
Philanthropy and public life
Jones is one of the most visible owners in professional sports, acting as the Cowboys' general manager as well as owner and speaking to reporters frequently. He has been a powerful voice in league affairs, including negotiations over television rights and stadium financing. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 in recognition of his influence on the business of the NFL.
The Jones family has supported charitable causes through the team, including a long partnership with The Salvation Army that uses the Thanksgiving Day game to launch the annual Red Kettle campaign. The family has also funded youth sports facilities, education programs and health causes in Texas and Arkansas, including gifts to the University of Arkansas. His public life has included lawsuits and controversies, some of them personal, which he has addressed through the courts.