A good read on what Jerry Jones has done for the NFL
http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...ed-hall-fame-jacket-changing-way-nfl-business
HOUSTON -- Jerry Jones has stood on the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement stage three times with a wide, prideful smile on his face.
There will be tears in his eyes for his next visit. Tears of joy.
Jones has traveled to Canton to serve as the presenter for three of his former players for enshrinement -- Michael Irvin in 2007, Emmitt Smith in 2010 and Larry Allen in 2013. His next visit this August will be for his own enshrinement.
On Saturday Jones was elected to the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017. He becomes the seventh member from the NFL’s 1990s team of the decade to collect a bust, joining Irvin, Smith, Allen, Troy Aikman, Charles Haley and Deion Sanders.
But the six players all received their gold jackets for what they did on the field for the Cowboys. Jones will receive his gold jacket for what he did off the field for the NFL. His players won championships. Jones changed the way the NFL does business.
Jones was one of two candidates nominated as contributors along with former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Tagliabue was subject of the longest discussion of the day at one hour, and Jones was next at 33 minutes, 45 seconds. Jones was elected. Tagliabue was not.
Jones cried when Irvin asked him to be his presenter for enshrinement. Jones both appreciates and respects the history of the game and knew the magnitude of the honor bestowed upon Irvin. Now that honor is his -- and it’s his because Jones changed the financial dynamic of the NFL in his 27 years of franchise ownership.
It was Jones who stonewalled the proposed financial rebates to the television networks in 1992 when CBS and NBC pleaded poverty. Jones got Fox involved and instead of returning $238 million to the networks through rebates, the next TV contract scored a $790 million increase. That 1994 TV contract was worth $4.39 billion. Three contracts later, it’s worth $44.5 billion. That money has driven the salary cap from $34 million in 1994 to $155 million in 2016.
The stadium revenue streams that Jones introduced in the mid-1990s also have contributed to the salary-cap inflation. His Texas Stadium sponsorships with American Express, Nike and Pepsi created stadium revenue streams that all NFL teams needed to generate, which triggered a boom in stadium construction.
Owners needed to get into stadiums where they could control their own leases, like Jones at Texas Stadium. Since 1995, when Jones paraded Phil Knight across the Meadowlands, there have been 20 new football-centric stadiums built. Atlanta becomes 21 in 2017 and Los Angeles 22 in 2019.
Owners have benefited from the explosion of revenue. So have the players and coaches. And the fans have benefitted from the wave of comfortable new stadiums. Jones drove that prosperity with his financial acumen and vision.
Professional football thanked him Saturday night with a bust in Canton.
