Jerry Jones is a well-known American billionaire businessman best known as the owner of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He has been the owner of the Dallas Cowboys since 1989. Jones is a football veteran who spent his whole playing career at the University of Arkansas.
As of 2022, he is the NFL’s second richest owner, after only David Tepper of the Carolina Panthers. Jones has been the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys since 1989, during which time the team has won three Super Bowls and became the world’s most valuable sports franchise.
Jerry Jones: Net Worth 2023
Jerry Jones is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League. Jerry Jones has an estimated net worth of $13.5 billion as of 2023. Jerry Jones’s first wealth came from his position as executive vice president of Modern Security Life in Springfield, Missouri.
He was also the creator and owner of Jones Oil and Land Lease, which looks for oil and gas natural resources in Arkansas. Jones paid $140 million for the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. The team is now valued at least $6.5 billion.
Jerry Jones: Early Life Detail
Jerry Jones was born in 1942 in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He went to North Little Rock High School before transferring to the University of Arkansas on a football scholarship.
He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, a football team co-captain, and an all-SWAC offensive lineman during his undergraduate career. Jones’ Arkansas teammate was Jimmy Johnson, whom Jones eventually hired as his first head coach after purchasing the Cowboys.
Jerry Jones: Personal Life Details
He met his wife Gene, a former beauty pageant winner, while in college. Stephen, Jerry Jr., and Charlotte are their three children. They have nine grandchildren as well. Stephen, their son, graduated from the University of Arkansas and now works for the Dallas Cowboys as COO, executive vice president, and director of player personnel.
Charlotte, their daughter, is a Stanford graduate who also works for the Cowboys as vice president and director of charities and special events. Jerry Jr., their eldest son, attended Georgetown University and Southern Methodist University, where he obtained a law degree. Jerry Jr. is the Cowboys’ chief sales and marketing officer as well as its vice president.
Jerry Jones: Career Details
Jones received a million dollars from the Teamsters union, led by Jimmy Hoffa, after graduating from college in 1965 to create a chain of Shakey’s Pizza shops in Missouri. Jones then turned over the project to his father’s insurance company, Modern Security Life of Springfield.
He was the executive vice president of the corporation. Late in his career, he sought to start several businesses. Jones once intended to buy the NFL’s San Diego Chargers with Teamster money.
He returned to Arkansas in 1970 and got a Master of Business Administration degree. Jones formed Jones Oil and Land Lease, a privately held firm that specialized in natural resource exploration. The next two decades were spent amassing cash and devising strategies to return to the football pitch.
Legends Hospitality was founded in 2008 by Jones and Yankee Global Enterprises. Legends, a provider of food, drink, merchandise, retail, and stadium operations services, for example, serves Cowboys Stadium.
Jerry Jones: Ownership Of The Cowboys
Jerry Jones paid $140 million for the Dallas Cowboys on February 29, 1989. After adjusting for inflation, that equates to more than $300 million today. Tom Landry, the only coach in the team’s history, was quickly replaced by Jimmy Johnson, a former colleague of Landry’s at Arkansas. This includes sacking the general manager and taking exclusive control of all football operations.
Jones’ first season as the owner saw the Cowboys go 1-15. Jones and Johnson made a quick recovery, and the team ended the season with a 7-9 record the next year. The Cowboys were 11-5 in 1991 and made the playoffs, however, they were eliminated in the second round.
In the 1992-93 season, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII. The next year, they defeated the Bills in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
In 1993, a power struggle emerged between Jones and Johnson, and the two’s relationship began to deteriorate. Jones blasted Johnson after the Cowboys won their second Super Bowl under Johnson in March 1994, saying that any coach could have led the club to victory in the title game.
Johnson received a $2 million bonus for his role in the Cowboys’ second consecutive Super Bowl victory on March 28, 1994.
In the 1995 season, another University of Arkansas alumnus, Barry Switzer, took over as the Cowboys’ Super Bowl XXX-winning quarterback. Johnson holdovers Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, and Larry Brown, who won Super Bowl XXXII, were among the key players on the squad.
Johnson was responsible for 70% of the starting lineup throughout his tenure, so he was given significant credit for the team’s third Super Bowl victory. The Cowboys have not won another title game since Super Bowl XXX.
During Jones’ tenure as owner, the Cowboys’ value has risen from $140 million to nearly $5.5 billion, making Jones a multi-billionaire. Jones is responsible for most of the NFL’s success since 1989.
He championed Fox at a time when ABC, CBS, and NBC were attempting to persuade the NFL to accept reduced broadcast rights fees. The NFL has become the biggest sports organization in the world since its move to Fox, bringing in more than $10 billion in revenue per season.
Only Mike Brown (owner of the Cincinnati Reds) and Jones (owner of the Seattle Mariners) can claim to be both general manager and owner at the same time.
Jones is the subject of David Magee’s 2008 book, Playing to Win. Jones claimed that the firing of Landry was largely to blame for the demise of his friendship with Jimmy Johnson. As of this writing, Johnson has yet to be enshrined into the Dallas Cowboys “Ring of Honor.”
While coaching the Dallas Cowboys in 2014, he was asked why Johnson, after winning two Super Bowls, was not inducted into the Ring of Honor. “It’s a felony to be disloyal,” Jones responded. “I couldn’t take the treachery anymore.”
Jones was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
Jerry Jones: Charity Work
The Gene and Jerry Jones Family Arlington Youth Foundation’s aim is to improve the overall quality of life for young people in Arlington.
This will be accomplished by giving complimentary funds to fund football and other athletic programs, as well as health and wellness, education, and the arts.
The Jones family committed to donating $16.5 million to Arlington youth-serving organizations more than 33 years ago.
Jerry Jones: Real Estate
Jerry Jones and his wife own a massive property in Dallas’ Highland Park neighborhood worth over $20 million. Jones is also the CEO of the real estate development company Blue Star Land. In 2018, the corporation paid $38 million for a 200-acre land that will be converted into Star Business Park.
In 2019, the company purchased an additional 60 acres nearby. On a portion of the site, Blue Star intends to build a 400,000-square-foot merchandising distribution and sales facility for the Cowboys.
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