Who Owns the Dallas Cowboys? Jerry Jones Owns the Team, Not the Stadium

Jerry Jones: owner, president, and general manager

Jerry Jones made his fortune in the Arkansas oil and gas industry before buying the Cowboys from H.R. "Bum" Bright in February 1989 for $140 million, a price that broke the $100 million barrier for a sports franchise for the first time profootballhof.com. The club's own account of the deal notes that Bright had dropped his asking price after a 3-13 season, splitting it between the team and Texas Stadium dallascowboys.com. Jones immediately fired coach Tom Landry and head of personnel Gil Brandt, a move that shocked the football world but set the stage for the dynasty of the early 1990s.

Jones holds the combined roles of owner, president, and general manager — a structure that gives him unilateral authority over coaching hires, player personnel decisions, and business operations. No other NFL owner currently holds this trifecta.

Jerry Jones paid $140 million for the Cowboys in 1989. Forbes valued the franchise at $13 billion in 2025, roughly 90 times the purchase price.

The ownership structure: Blue Star Entertainment

The Cowboys are a private business. There is no SEC filing, no published cap table and no public register of the club's holding entities, so the corporate names below are as reported publicly rather than as confirmed in a filing. What is on the record is the league framework around them: NFL rules require a single controlling owner holding at least 30% of the club, cap the total number of owners at 25, and permit approved private equity funds to take only passive, non-voting stakes of up to 10% in aggregate nfl.com.

The Cowboys operate under several associated entities, including Dallas Cowboys Football Club Ltd. (the operating company), Cowboys Stadium LP (the stadium entity), and Blue Star Land, which controls real estate around AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and The Star in Frisco, Texas — the team's practice facility and entertainment complex.

The Jones family's role

Jerry Jones's three adult children each hold senior executive roles within the organisation. Stephen Jones is the de facto operating executive and is widely seen as the heir to the franchise, routinely handling contract negotiations and personnel decisions under his father's direction. Charlotte Jones Anderson oversees the Cowboys' brand strategy, NFL charitable and social-impact initiatives, and AT&T Stadium event programming. Jerry Jones Jr. leads sponsorship and business development.

The Jones family has never brought in outside equity. Under the league's 2024 rules the club could sell up to 10% to approved private equity funds, but those stakes carry no voting power and must be held for at least six years nfl.com. Nothing of the kind has been done at Dallas.

Franchise value: the most valuable sports team in the world

Forbes has ranked Dallas the NFL's most valuable team for 19 straight years. Its August 2025 list put the club at $13 billion, up 29% year on year, on estimated 2024 revenue of $1.234 billion and operating income of $629 million; in 2024 the Cowboys became the first pro sports team ever valued at $10 billion forbes.com. These are Forbes estimates, not audited figures: the club publishes no accounts.

Revenue drivers that underpin the valuation include:

• NFL national media rights, shared equally among all 32 franchises, which is why even the league's lowest-valued clubs clear half a billion dollars of revenue forbes.com
• AT&T Stadium sponsorship and event revenue — the stadium hosts NCAA events, concerts, and college football beyond NFL games
• The Star at Frisco: a 91-acre entertainment district that includes the team's headquarters, practice facilities, and a hotel and retail complex operated by the Cowboys
• Cowboys-branded merchandise, which leads all NFL teams in licensed product sales

AT&T Stadium: who owns the building?

AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is not owned by Jerry Jones or the Cowboys. The building cost about $1.2 billion. Arlington voters approved a $325 million public contribution in a 2004 referendum that passed with 55% of the vote, and servicing that debt ended up costing the city roughly $490 million once interest and fees were counted; the Cowboys funded the balance and operate the venue under a lease keranews.org. The city has since weighed a further $273 million over 20 years to extend the lease to 2055 keranews.org. No public figure confirms a specific Jones family construction contribution, so none is quoted here.

The Star in Frisco: Cowboys-owned real estate

The Star at Frisco is a 91-acre campus built as a public-private partnership between the Cowboys, the City of Frisco and Frisco Independent School District, announced in August 2013 and opened in 2016 friscotexas.gov. Ownership there is split rather than absolute: the Ford Center at The Star, the 12,000-seat indoor stadium shared with Frisco ISD's eight high schools, is owned by the City of Frisco and managed by the Cowboys, who pay its maintenance and operating costs friscotexas.gov. The city has not published a single headline figure for its contribution, so none is quoted here.

Could the Cowboys ever be sold?

Jerry Jones has said repeatedly that he has no intention of selling. The league's rules make a sale complex in any case: a buyer must pass league vetting, a club may have no more than 25 owners, and a single controlling owner must hold at least 30% nfl.com. Jones is now in his eighties, and with Stephen Jones running the football and business operation as chief operating officer dallascowboys.com, a generational transfer is widely considered the more likely path than a third-party sale. No succession plan has been published.

Frequently asked questions