The Cowboys franchise is worth billions.
Why does a man whose business might be worth $13 billion dollars need $273 million in public funding to maintain his sports venue? The owner of the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys franchise, Jerry Jones, will be getting $273 million from taxpayers despite the face he takes in more than $500 million annually to fix old his stadium. There was no threat of Jones moving his lucrative business to any other area in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas market or taking his team to another city but the Arlington, Texas City Council voted to approve an extension of Jones’s lease with the municipality and signed off on using $273 million of venue taxes to reimburse Jones for improvements to the municipality’s sports facility. Jones will pay upfront construction costs. Jones will be reimbursed starting in 2028 and that public money will be paid out over the following 20 years. The Cowboys’ business lease with Arlington will end in 2055. The Arlington taxpayers’ money will be used to improve the stadium’s lifespan, security and safety in the surrounding area.
Arlington politicians justified the use of public dollars to maintain the stadium by finding a company willing to study the economics of the stadium and predictably that company said put up taxpayers’ money to maintain the stadium because it is a worthwhile investment. That study claimed that the annual eight to 10 Cowboys home games brings in roughly $324 million in economic impact for Arlington per year. NFL owners are getting massive amounts of public money across the country to either renovate or build new stadiums in numerous markets including Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Nashville and Washington. The league is waiting for Illinois politicians to put up money for a Chicago Bears new stadium after Indiana politicians have pledged money for a Bears venue. Jones is keeping up with fellow owners.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
