Contrary to Jerry's propaganda, there were many groups interested in purchasing the Cowboys. Jerry discovered one that was ready to pull the trigger on the deal which is why, to this day, he admitted he overpaid for the Cowboys
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-16-sp-3935-story.html
Jack Veatch, managing director of the Dallas office of Salomon Bros., which is helping to line up prospective buyers, said Wednesday that H. R. (Bum) Bright has received four written offers for the team and the Texas Stadium lease.
This myth goes hand in hand with the "losing a million dollars a day" myth. Although the Cowboys team were technically losing money, the original intent of purchasing a professional sports franchise wasn't about profit vs. deficit. These sports franchises were purchased by business leaders for the purpose of enhancing the reputation and prestige of his profitable businesses. In some cases it was seen as a magnanimous gesture, giving something back to the community. It was similar to a smaller business sponsoring a community children's baseball league team. Ticket sales were priced to balance the costs of the players, equipment, and other hired professionals.
https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/30-years-ago-jerry-jones-made-his-biggest-deal
"Every NFL team was losing money, but here's the thing. For years, it was a rich man's club, the league wasn't set up to make money. It was about really rich men who liked having a football team and could afford to lose a few million each year."
"Jerry wanted to win as much as anyone, but he was going to run the Cowboys as a business. He was going to make them profitable."
Jerry wanted to win as much as anyone, but!!!
The original intent of the league had been circumvented by a group of owners headed by Jerry Jones against the "league first" faction of the old-timers. I'm not saying that Jerry was the first to think of a community enhancing organization becoming a cash cow. He's just the worse as evidenced by the Cowboys designation as most profitable. In addition, He has been able to reroute the amount of money he reports as profit from ownership of the Cowboys by listing it as profit from the ownership of the stadiums.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/27/the-nfls-anarchist-success-story/
"The primary purpose of the NFL – like MLB and other professional sports leagues – is not to provide enjoyment for fans and increase community solidarity, but to serve as a vehicle for extremely rich men to line their pockets by extracting money from taxpayers."
Skeptical? Here is another fact that should shock most fans:
The NFL operates as a non-profit organization.
https://www.sportscasting.com/5-highly-profitable-non-profits-in-sports/
The NFL is registered with the IRS as a 501 (c)6 organization, defined as such:
“Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and professional football leagues, which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.”
These days, as previously noted, the desire for maximum profit has created a strategy of excluding the average "Joe" fan and catering to the rich and corporate entities, the complete opposite of the NFL's original intent.
https://my.vanderbilt.edu/vrooman/files/2016/06/VROOMAN-NFL.pdf
"Take-it-or-leave-it perfect price discrimination has exhausted the consumer-surplus of the marginal fan. Fan-exclusion tactics have become virtually the same in both media and venue revolutions. The NFL league-cartel and its local monopoly teams have charged fewer and fewer fans more and more money for the same all-or nothing season-ticket package. Over a very short period the venue structure of an entire League will have been transformed from multipurpose public stadiums designed for maximum fan welfare to publicly subsidized exclusive football-only venues designed for maximum profit."
Jerry Jones spearheaded a great deal of these profit driven strategies. It is the reason other owners arranged his induction into the HOF.
Consider this Part I of the answer to your question "Why the Rant?" I will be happy to provide Parts II thru XII upon request.
And I haven't forgotten why I follow this team, it certainly has nothing to do with Jerry Jones's record profits from something he claimed from day #1 "can't be owned" .