FAMILY BUSINESS
DESPITE HIS FATHER’S CONSIDERABLE SHADOW, STEPHEN JONES EMERGES AS KEY NFL POWER BROKER
Stephen Jones has made his imprint felt on the Cowboys.
When Jerry Jones was in the process of seeking a ninefigure loan that was equal parts breathtaking and terrifying, he reached out to financial experts qualified to give him an accurate assessment of the Dallas Cowboys.
Jones had long aspired to own a professional football team. His first attempt occurred when he was a 23-yearold fledgling entrepreneur with a bank account that was unimpressive but ambition that was unrestrained. The San Diego Chargers were for sale in 1966 and Jones somehow charmed a group of investors into agreeing to loan him the money to buy the team.
Ultimately, he was unable to consummate the deal but the experience he gained at such an early age had a positive impact when he found out the Cowboys were for sale in 1989. Jones had his trusted financial and legal team study the team’s finances, but he also sought the advice of someone he felt was not only uniquely qualified, but also personally invested in his family — his 24-year-old son Stephen.
“Stephen is exceptional with numbers,” Jerry said. “It’s probably what made him get through engineering school. I was never uncomfortable having him dive into financial statements. … I had no apprehension, none, about too early or the youth or the age.”
When Stephen completed his review, he came to the same conclusion as everyone else — the franchise was in disastrous financial shape, losing $1 million per month. The investment was volatile and he urged his father to walk away from it.
Jerry then demonstrated that Stephen would he be treated the same as all advisors, young or old. Jerry ignored them all and bought the team.
Profitable partnership begins for Joneses
That was the beginning, however, of a father-son football partnership that has transformed a risky investment into an empire valued at $4 billion by Forbes magazine. Jerry, no doubt, is the foundation of the franchise, the financial genius who has created revenue streams not only for his team, but also for the NFL. His impact on the league will be honored in August when he is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
For 28 years, however, Stephen has been his father’s most valued advisor. Charlotte and Jerry Jr., his younger siblings, later joined the front office after their schooling was complete, but Stephen was a major player from the beginning.
“I can’t remember a meeting, or at any time since we’ve had the Cowboys,” Jerry says, “that I didn’t have him sitting with a real seat at the table, whether it was a financial issue, or a league issue or football issues.”
The 52-year-old Stephen’s various titles — Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, Player Personnel Director, President of AT&T Stadium — illustrate his importance in the organization. He is in charge of the 400-person staff, manages the team’s salary cap, oversees the scouting and player personnel departments, has a significant role in the college draft and negotiates player contracts. He was instrumental in helping to design and build A&T Stadium and was a driving force in building The Star, the spectacular one-yearold practice facility in Frisco. He is even part of the process of recruiting country stars and rock bands for concerts in the stadium.
“He’s the biggest asset Jerry has, because he was in the room from the start,” says Bruce Hardy, who worked for the Cowboys for 30 years and was the general manager of Texas Stadium when Jones bought the team. “Charlotte and Jerry Jr. are both brilliant young people, but they weren’t there at first. They were in college when we were trying to figure out how to make the whole thing work so Jerry wouldn’t lose his money. Stephen got involved in the whole operation. He dug his knuckles into everything and he made a difference.”
His success with the Cowboys also increased his stature in the league. Since 2009, Stephen has been a member of the prestigious NFL Competition Committee, which oversees important aspects of the game including the playing rules and player safety.
Perhaps the greatest compliment Stephen has received is that Jerry has never been criticized for hiring him. Obviously the executive-level job Stephen got at age 24 was made possible by his father, but it did not help him perform his job successfully. With the Cowboys losing $1 million a month at the time of purchase — “Jerry was reminding us of that every day,” Stephen says — it wasn’t enough to be competent, it was vital for the 24-year-old son to excel. Stephen’s performance eliminated the word “nepotism” from any discussion of the Cowboys front office.
“For many years, there was a series of very dominating, charismatic owners, whose kids did not play a important role in their organizations and were not at the same level intellectually and ambitionwise as their parents,” said Leigh Steinberg, a renowned agent who represented several Cowboys including Troy Aikman, Darren Woodson and Daryl Johnston. “And then along came the Jones family. They were different.
“In his early 20s, Stephen already had some distinguishing characteristics. First of all he was very, very smart. He was engaging, he had social graces, he was bright, he had a real sense of when to contribute and when not and he had a really easy relationship with his father. It was clear Jerry intended to have Stephen be a critical part in the franchise.”
Unique structure
In the first seven years the Jones family owned the team, the Cowboys won three Super Bowls. In the 21 years since, they have not been close. They’ve made the playoffs only nine times and have never advanced as far as the conference finals. Overall, they have a 3-9 playoff record since Jan. 28, 1996, when they defeated Pittsburgh 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX. Stephen makes no excuses. “It’s the No. 1 thorn in my side,” he says. “It’s something
I CAN’T REMEMBER A MEETING … THAT I DIDN’T HAVE HIM SITTING WITH A REAL SEAT AT THE TABLE, WHETHER IT WAS A FINANCIAL ISSUE, OR A LEAGUE ISSUE OR FOOTBALL ISSUES.” JERRY JONES, Cowboys owner
that just eats at Jerry and me.”
When a franchise that has been successful struggles, the people running it are analyzed, criticized … and “advised.” Opinions on what’s wrong and inexpensive advice (i.e., free) on how to make it right are offered frequently. One solution that has been suggested repeatedly is that since the general manager has clearly not done a good job, the owner should fire him.
The only problem with that is Jones is both, a reality that is maddening to critics.
The Cowboys have a unique structure. Although Jerry has the title of general manager, he delegates some traditional GM duties to his scouting department. He participates actively in the college draft process and handles free agent acquisitions, but he does not work daily on football matters.
The same is true of the player personnel director — Stephen, who points out that he and Jerry both played Division I college football, which should make them football guys. But unlike other general managers, Jerry and Stephen also run the team’s business operations.
“I get it that there are general managers out there that watch tape every day, go on the road to scout and that’s their only job,” Stephen says. “We have people that help us do that. But I think because of our background, because we understand the game, because we love the game, because we’re willing to do the things you have to do — sit in the meetings on Monday and watch the tape and get the analysis of the players on our team — that it works for us.
“On top of that, we understand globally what an organization is all about. If all we did was go scout and do those types of things, then AT&T Stadium doesn’t get built, The Star doesn’t happen, expanding our brand doesn’t happen. So you’ve got to pick and choose and use your time efficiently. I think we understand what we’re doing as an organization.”
One person who compliments the Joneses football acumen is Troy Vincent, the NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations who had a 15-year NFL career as a cornerback for Miami, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Washington. Vincent is the top league executive on the competition committee.
”Stephen has a tremendous football IQ,” Vincent says. “He understands rules, he understands player personnel and he has the ability to go in and out of discussions and articulate what a rule change means for the league. That makes him very unique.”
The initial investment now is worth more than 28 times the $140 million Jerry paid for it. The Cowboys may have struggled to build a team that could win a Super Bowl, but the team of Jerry and Stephen has built a $4 billion financial dynasty.
On the Cowboys’ team directory, Stephen is listed below only Jerry and coach Jason Garrett, and is clearly next in line to run the team.
But with Jerry’s Hall of Fame induction in late August, the Cowboys positioned to make a Super Bowl run, a stadium that is eight years old but still stunning, a new team office and practice facility that is clearly the best in the league and a franchise that is the most valuable in the world, Jerry won’t be retiring any time soon, which is fine with Stephen.
“It pains me to even think about him not being here,” Stephen said of his father. “We’ve just had such a wonderful chemistry — not only him and I, but our whole family. We seem to really thrive off one another, work well together, especially under his tutelage and leadership.
“I just don’t think he’ll not have the energy. He’s as sharp and has as much energy as he’s ever had and he’s 74 years old.”