Everyone knows the story of Jerry Jones having a deal in place to buy the Chargers in 1966 when he was 23. How history would have changed.
With his business acumen, Jones no doubt would have had the Chargers playing in Los Angeles long before they finally ended up there, likely turning them into one of the NFL’s most valuable franchises. But after buying the Cowboys in 1989, Jones had no interest in owning a team in Southern California.
That’s what he said on his weekly radio show Tuesday.
“Several years back, I was approached by several owners that asked if I would consider selling the team, and the team being a more elite team and I take Los Angeles and build Los Angeles,” Jones said on on 105.3 The Fan. “That was not interesting for me, first of all, from a standpoint of where you are. I could go out and spend my lifetime building a new franchise in a market like Los Angeles and still be 50, 60 years behind the Dallas Cowboys who are out in front. So that didn’t make any sense. But I was born in Los Angeles. That is an attractive part of the world out there. But there is no place, no place is like our area for football and sport.
“We are in the best place in the world for American football. It’s right here in Dallas, Texas. That’s shown by the interest there is in the high school football, which is something completely different relative to the social and the cultural aspect of it, but then our support of the college game and then of course of the Dallas Cowboys. There’s no place like this. This is the best place in the world for football.”
The question was posed after Jones recently told Bloomberg he wouldn’t sell for anything less than $10 billion. America’s Team is valued at $5 billion by Forbes, making it the world’s most valuable sports franchise.
The Panthers were the last team to sell, fetching a record $2.3 billion.
“I certainly think you can justify a $10 billion value, but economically, I’d rather have the Cowboys than the $10 billion,” Jones reiterated on his radio show.
Jones added he wouldn’t sell his team for “no amount of money.”
“The best way to put this as far as on a personal basis, the value of the team, I would trade that perception of that number for the right number of first downs in a New York minute, or the right number of wins, or an opportunity to get to a Super Bowl,” Jones said. “The point is it’s not for sale. Fortunately, it won’t be for sale. My immediate family, Charlotte [Jones Anderson], Stephen [Jones], and Jerry [Jones Jr.], they’ll have it long after I’m gone. That’s just a fact. And, so, it’s just that. It’s a feel-good for people to appreciate the value, but only to the extent that it helps first downs, that’s all it counts for because the unit you use that value in commerce because they know they can’t get to it. There’s no amount of money that would get the Cowboys.”