Jerry Jones' 1995 Risk Allows The Dallas Cowboys To Become Leaders In The Growing Women's Sports App

[rafaelgreco]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciaj...-in-the-growing-womens-sports-apparel-market/

Risk taking is necessary for a business to grow. For Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a risk that he took in 1995 has had a significant payoff in his team’s ability to enter into the growing business of women’s sports apparel.

Seven years before Jones became the Cowboys’ owner, NFL owners voted to create the NFL Trust. This resulted in each team transferring the exclusive right to use its club marks for commercial purposes to the NFL Trust. The NFL Trust then entered into license agreements with NFL Properties to provide NFL Properties the exclusive right to license the trust’s property. The motivation behind creating the NFL Trust was the thought that when placed into the market together, the value of all NFL team marks would be higher than if teams attempted to negotiate licensing deals on their own.

In 1993, NFL owners began capitalizing upon their decision to create the NFL Trust. That year, Coca-Cola signed a five-year contract worth a reported $250 million to become the official soft-drink of the NFL. In 1995, Visa USA would sign the then second-largest partnership agreement with the NFL, a five-year deal worth $50 million, to become the NFL’s exclusive payment card sponsor.

In the background of these deals, though, was Jones. Not a team owner when NFL owners voted to create the NFL Trust, Jones realized that he and the Cowboys were in a situation unique from most other NFL teams: The Cowboys didn’t need a stable of teams to secure lucrative endorsement deals.

With the business savvy cured from his education, which includes a Master’s degree in business, and successfully running his own Jones Oil and Land Lease, Jones set out to capitalize upon the brand recognized as “America’s Team.” The owner of not only the Dallas Cowboys, but also their stadium, Texas Stadium Corporation, Jones entered into multi-million dollar sponsorship agreements with American Express, Pepsi and Nike through Texas Stadium Corporation.

 

[DallasInDC]

No denying JJ's business prowess. While we as fans may believe that SBs are the ultimate objective but the reality is it is a business and the main objective of a business generate a profit / maximize wealth. JJ has been masterful from that perspective. Turning a $140MM investment into $3.2B is the definition of success. Now, it can't be understated that the 90's SBs aided that value creation and had we won 2-3 more in the past 20 years, the value would have been even more than it is today. regardless, as we lament over lack of success I'm sure JJ sleeps well at night knowing he has one of the highest value franchises in the world.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

No denying JJ's business prowess. While we as fans may believe that SBs are the ultimate objective but the reality is it is a business and the main objective of a business generate a profit / maximize wealth. JJ has been masterful from that perspective. Turning a $140MM investment into $3.2B is the definition of success. Now, it can't be understated that the 90's SBs aided that value creation and had we won 2-3 more in the past 20 years, the value would have been even more than it is today. regardless, as we lament over lack of success I'm sure JJ sleeps well at night knowing he has one of the highest value franchises in the world.

In fairness to Jerry Jones, he wants to do both - Have the most profitable franchise AND win. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

No denying JJ's business prowess. While we as fans may believe that SBs are the ultimate objective but the reality is it is a business and the main objective of a business generate a profit / maximize wealth. JJ has been masterful from that perspective. Turning a $140MM investment into $3.2B is the definition of success. Now, it can't be understated that the 90's SBs aided that value creation and had we won 2-3 more in the past 20 years, the value would have been even more than it is today. regardless, as we lament over lack of success I'm sure JJ sleeps well at night knowing he has one of the highest value franchises in the world.

Actually more and more owners are buying into sports leagues as vanity purchases. Sports ownership has turned increasingly into something more akin to art collecting than business owning.

Case in point? The clippers sale. Or the Nets which operate at a loss.

Thankfully the economics of sports help even the non business savy not take a soak on their investments.

But clearly Jerry was of the old guard. But even Jerry has said if he invested more in his oil business than the Cowboys he'd be a richer man today.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Actually more and more owners are buying into sports leagues as vanity purchases. Sports ownership has turned increasingly into something more akin to art collecting than business owning.

Case in point? The clippers sale. Or the Nets which operate at a loss.

Thankfully the economics of sports help even the non business savy not take a soak on their investments.

But clearly Jerry was of the old guard. But even Jerry has said if he invested more in his oil business than the Cowboys he'd be a richer man today.

The Nets operating at a loss is a bit misleading because if they can wait 10 years, they can sell it for a monster profit in the end.

Many corporations are purchased along these lines...operate at a loss but the name is so powerful that in the end when the owners sell it they sell it for a profit.

The last corporation I worked for was owned by an investment group and operated under the same principle. Sure, the investment group thought they could turn the company around and make some operating profit. But in the end, they knew that at the very least they could sell the company down the road and make enough profit off the sale to come up profitable from the operating losses they had. Which is what they did.




YR

 

[Toruk_Makto]

The Nets operating at a loss is a bit misleading because if they can wait 10 years, they can sell it for a monster profit in the end.

Many corporations are purchased along these lines...operate at a loss but the name is so powerful that in the end when the owners sell it they sell it for a profit.

The last corporation I worked for was owned by an investment group and operated under the same principle. Sure, the investment group thought they could turn the company around and make some operating profit. But in the end, they knew that at the very least they could sell the company down the road and make enough profit off the sale to come up profitable from the operating losses they had. Which is what they did.




YR

I work at an investment bank you'd have heard of. I get this.

But read this...it's interesting.

But most of all professional sports owners don’t have to behave like businessmen. For every disciplined and rational operator like the Patriots’ Robert Kraft or Mark Cuban, there is also someone like Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder. Snyder was a brilliant entrepreneur, who at the age of 36 sold Snyder Communications — the marketing company he built from scratch — for an estimated $2 billion. He has subsequently run the Commanders like a petulant 14-year-old fantasy owner. Snyder Communications was a business. The Commanders are a toy. The former he ran to solely maximize profit. The latter he runs for his psychic benefit — as a reward for all the years he spent being disciplined and rational. And it is one of the surreal qualities of professional sports that they are as welcoming and lucrative for those owners who chose to behave like 14-year-olds as they are of those owners who chose to behave like grown-ups.

http://grantland.com/features/psychic-benefits-nba-lockout/