$15.5bn Cowboys will be wildly different after Jerry Jones exit as son Stephen outlines plan

Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboys since 1989 and the older he gets, the more attention turns to his son Stephen.

But America’s Team are still very much operating in Jerry’s World.

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As the owner and general manager, Jones has overseen three Super Bowl triumphs. He has turned the Cowboys into the most valuable sports franchise on the planet, worth a reported $15.5 billion according to Sportico’s recent valuation.

Now 83-years-old, Jones has no intention of walking away and settling for a quiet, comfortable retirement.

“I don’t have a succession plan, I don’t,” he told The Athletic’s Zak Keefer.

“One day, I just won’t be here to toss my two cents in.”

While much has been made in recent months of the Cowboys being open to investment, with Mark Cuban said to be interested, one thing is for certain.

The team will remain in the family.

When asked by Keefer if there could be a day the Cowboys aren’t owned by the Joneses, Stephen offered a flat answer.

“We certainly don’t wanna think about that,” he said. “We don’t want it to be that way.”

The plan, it seems, is obvious. Stephen will one day take the reins from Jerry, and head up a new era of the Cowboys.

He’s worked with his father since Day 1, when he was just 24-years-old.

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For the last 37 years, the pair have stood shoulder to shoulder. Jerry as owner, and Stephen his right hand man, with the official title of chief operating officer, executive vice president of player personnel and president of AT&T Stadium.

But according to those close the Cowboys operation and the Jones family, once he has full control of the team, things will be quite different.

Stephen Jones will run Cowboys different to dad Jerry

“I’m not pushing Jerry out by any means, but when that day comes, it’s gonna feel a lot different,” Hall of Fame quarterback and franchise icon Troy Aikman told The Athletic.

“From my interactions with him, Stephen doesn’t have the ego his father has. That’ll serve him well.

“Stephen’s just got this gift of making you feel like you’re the most important person he’s seen all day.”

The franchise under Stephen, Aikman believes, will look and feel more like a typical NFL team, without the distraction of an owner who wants to be the main character.

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He added: “Stephen will be less inclined to want to get all the credit, and I think he’ll create an environment conducive to winning.”

It’s not just Aikman who expects big change once Jerry is done.

Darren Woodson, who played his entire career with the Cowboys and won those three Super Bowls alongside QB Aikman and Jones, predicts a different approach to player relations.

The former safety and his commercial real estate firm rents office space at The Star, the Cowboys’ 91-acre practice facility, so he’s still up close and personal.

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Woodson believes that had Stephen been in charge, franchise quarterback Dak Prescott and wideout CeeDee Lamb would have been handed contract extensions months earlier than they were, potentially saving the team millions.

He also believes Micah Parsons would have been shipped off far quicker had Stephen been making the big calls.

“Stephen’s going to chart a different path. He’s got a little bit more mother****** in him,” Woodson suggested.

“The team keeps making emotional decisions. They keep guys because Jerry likes them personally. I don’t think that leash will be as long with Stephen.”

Speaking specifically of the Parsons drama, Woodson explained: “I guarantee you Stephen wanted that to be a dead issue, and dad let it ride.

“I think the off-the-field stuff the organization had to deal with — showing up late, not being a team guy, paying a guy that kind of money when he’s not really a leader? Yeah, that s*** ain’t flying.

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“Jerry loves personalities, because Jerry is a personality. I don’t think that’s Stephen’s deal.”

Jerry, of course, has no plans to step back just yet. But the Cowboys have always been a family business.

All three of his children own equal ownership shares, and will collectively run the organization after he’s gone. But Stephen’s ‘two cents’ will carry the most weight. The Athletic believes the Cowboys will be his team.

“They’ve been making decisions for the past 20, 30 years, and no doubt Stephen has been the leader of that group,” Jerry explained.

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“For better or worse, we’ve been here as a team.”

Stephen will be unlikely to make the same kind of splash, league-wide, that Jerry has done for decades. Few in the world could.

But he does want to bring Super Bowl glory back to Dallas.

“The drought… that’s what eats at us most,” he said.

“When that Super Bowl ends, all you think about it is, ‘Hey, we’re gonna win this sumbitch this year.'”