Stadium Problem? It's All About Capitalism for Jerry Jones and Cowboys Fans

ARLINGTON, Texas — Stadium problem? It's all about capitalism for Jerry Jones and Dallas Cowboys fans.

Jones built AT&T Stadium, and they are coming in droves. And that is somehow a problem?

Jones promised a Taj Mahal that the entire world would envy, and he delivered with a $1.2 billion show palace in Arlington that people are coming from far and near to see.

So while Jones can understand the irony of his football team feeling like the road team in its own home, you will never see him say a critical word about his personal pride and joy.

You also will not hear Jones be critical of Cowboys fans and season-ticket holders who have gladly resold their seats to eager opposing fans for the first three home games.

"So you do have a situation where, frankly, the interest in the stadium, the venue [is appealing to fans], which was a dream of mine," Jones said on his local radio show Tuesday.

"I wanted it to be like Madison Square Garden. We built this stadium so that it would be so visible and so well-known across the United States. And you can get to this stadium in two-and-a-half, three hours from any place in the United States, much less drive from within our own market. So that’s the story."

That was the story.

That was before San Francisco, New Orleans and Houston had fanbases that made up at least 40 percent of the crowd in those three home games.

It became such an issue in Sunday's 20-17 overtime victory against the Houston Texans that quarterback Tony Romo brazenly called out Cowboys fans in the postgame press conference. Romo said it felt like a road game as the offense had to resort to a silent count in “their home.”

"I was a little bit surprised by the number of Houston fans," Romo said Sunday night. "Today we played on the road. We had to go to a silent count, and that was the first time I had to do that throughout the game at home. 

"We need to do a better job as a team, as a fanbase, to make sure how big of a difference playing at home is. I think going forward, I'm going to press the issue. We just need to tighten up on selling our tickets."

Fan-blaming is never a good idea. Romo might want to rethink that statement, and he probably will have a different response when he talks to the media against this week.

The root of the problem lies with Jones not the fans.

It was his zest to build an amazing show palace, prompting many casual fans to pay a premium to see a spectacle and pricing out some of the team's hard-core base. But it's also about good old-fashioned capitalism for Jones and the fans.

Jones didn't build a stadium with 100,000 seats for it to be half- or even a third empty. He wants sellouts at nearly every game, and he is getting the strong crowds he covets. Nevermind that many of them are rooting for other teams.

It's also hard to blame season-ticket holders and a Cowboys fanbase for taking advantage of a free market.

Jones sure doesn't.

“Well, first of all, I understand it,” said a seemingly defensive Jones, who had stats ready and was on the offensive during his radio interview. “The point is we’re all over. We have probably as many as 30 percent of our fans that are from afar, and they don’t make every game.

"You put that with the fact that we’re the hottest ticket there is on the internet-type marketing of tickets, that’s the secondary market. The other day, these tickets for the Houston game were going as high as 300 percent of face value. A Party Pass for $29 was going for $100. That’s standing-only going for a hundred.

"By the way, I had heard someone say, ‘They just have a corporate fanbase.’ Nothing is further from the truth. I’m talking about the ticket holder. Nothing is further from the truth. 

"I do want to get the record straight; our stadium is owned, the rights to those tickets are owned by fans. A large percentage of them don’t go to but four games, five games a year. The rest of the time they take into a very active and attractive situation, and they go out into the market, and they sell their tickets and get that money.

"And in doing so, they really do reduce their overall cost of coming to the stadium considerably because you sell two or three games as a season-ticket holder and you’ve just about recouped what you’ve spent to buy the ticket."

Again, what can't be overlooked is the uniqueness of the venue that has made it a bigger star than the Cowboys football team in recent years and Jones' most beloved accomplishment since the three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s.

From the center-hung digital video board that spans 60 yards, to monumental arches, a retractable roof and retractable end zone, to the marble floors, to the amazing collection of contemporary art, AT&T Stadium is not your normal football facility.

It is a sports cathedral that Jones always envisioned as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

It is so popular that the Cowboys do brisk business with stadium tours year-round. Fans pay $17.50 for a self-guided tour and $27.50 for a guided tour.

Just last year, The Dallas Morning News listed AT&T Stadium as one of the top 10 tourist destinations in Dallas, alongside the George W. Bush Presidential Library, South Fork Ranch of the legendary television show Dallas and the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which houses a permanent exhibit on the life, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.

Jones reasons that if opposing fans choose at least one away game to attend each season, they will most likely attend one at AT&T Stadium because of its attractiveness, the Texas weather and the ease of getting there from anywhere in the country.

Those were certainly among the factors in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.

Add in games against rival teams just a couple of hours away such as Houston and New Orleans and you have the perfect storm.

Jones and coach Jason Garrett are quick to point out that there are things the Cowboys can do to keep the opposing fans quiet.

Romo didn't complain about noise in the New Orleans game because the Cowboys jumped out to a 31-3 lead and cruised to a 38-17 victory. Saints fans are known to be some of the most boisterous in the NFL, but they were mostly silent throughout.

The Cowboys actually had the Houston fans sitting on their hands when they took a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter.

“I’m not making light of it, but it’s what we’ve got," Jones said. "I know this; they got quiet when we were up 10 points in that fourth quarter.”

But the Cowboys let the Texans and their fans get back into the game and take it into overtime. The Cowboys actually could have put the game away earlier but had to overcome two red-zone turnovers and a fumbled punt.

“We’ve had interesting home games this year,” Garrett said Monday. “One of the things we have to do as a team is we have to give our fans reason to cheer. There are a lot of Cowboys fans there. When we do things the right way and give our fans reason to cheer and be loud, typically those things work out well for us.”

It should be noted that the fan issue may not be as big a problem going forward as the Cowboys get into their division games against NFC East opponents who come yearly to AT&T Stadium. The two remaining nonconference games are against the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts. Their fanbases don’t travel either.

Then there’s the little matter of the Cowboys' surprising success this season. After three straight 8-8 campaigns and four seasons out of the playoffs, no one saw this fast start coming.

The normally positive Jones even warned Cowboys fans before the season that the team would have “their backs against the wall” and facing an uphill climb in 2014.

But now the Cowboys are riding a four-game winning streak with a 4-1 record for the first time since 2008. The fanbase is getting super-excited again and jumping back on the bandwagon.

A giddy Jones is laughing all the way to the bank.

He wins regardless.

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.