Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is back in the news again, and it isn’t for good reasons. Even though financially, it might be good for him, overall it’s not a good look on the franchise.
This week, a topic out of Dallas is how distracting stadium tours are to the players on the team. The Cowboys, play at AT&T Stadium, which is one of the most popular sports venues in the entire world. The stadium offers a variety of tours at different price points and levels of access.
While stadium tours are common around the league, Dallas’ tours are different than others. While they don’t usually hold tours when players are practicing, fans get unique access of the stadium but it comes at the expense of employee and player happiness and it’s a distraction to the team.
Owner Jerry Jones doesn’t think his stadium tours are distractions after hearing that pop up in the news recently. He said it’s “ridiculous” to think that the tours interfere with players’ performances.
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Jones said:
“It’s ridiculous to think that it impacts the play of the players.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on @1053thefan said he was happy to see the ESPN story about the fan tours at The Star.
Why? The publicity “will increase our tours significantly.”
“It’s ridiculous to think that it impacts the play of the players.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 25, 2024
Jones was responding to comments made earlier this week by Cowboys star wide recevier CeeDee Lamb, who candidly said that sometimes the tours are distracting.
When asked if the tours are a distraction, Lamb said:
“Sometimes. That’s all I’m going to say.”
CeeDee Lamb if tours at The Star are a distraction: “Sometimes. That’s all I’m going to say.”
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) October 24, 2024
According to ESPN, the Cowboys say that The Star and AT&T Stadium sell about 500,000 tickets each year and generate nearly $10 million in revenue.
Players have spoken out about the tours being distractions. For example, former tight end Dalton Schultz said that the tours are “like a zoo,” and that fans would tap on the glass of the weight liftting room to grab players’ attention.
One can easily see the tours being a distraction, but at the end of the day, if it’s a way for Jerry Jones to make his pockets fatter, he will likely not pay any mind to what players or employees think about the tours.
The Dallas Cowboys return from bye facing the San Francisco 49ers on SNF
The Dallas Cowboys enjoyed a bye in Week 7. This week, they return against the San Francisco 49ers.
Coming back from the bye, Dallas will play in primetime as the two teams will meet for Sunday Night Football. Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. EDT at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, California.
Dallas enters Sunday night’s game coming off of the worst loss of the season. The Detroit Lions routed Cowboys, 47-9 in Week 6. The 49ers will also enter Sunday night coming off of a loss. The 49ers were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs, 28-18 last week, which results in an underwhelming record of 3-4.
Both of the struggling teams were viewed as playoff contenders before the season started desperately need a win this week. Who do you think comes out on top?
