Cowboys fans upset at owner Jerry Jones’ refusal to pay All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons should avoid Sportico’s annual NFL team valuations, where Dallas ranks first overall for the sixth consecutive season.
Valued at a whopping $12.8 billion, the Cowboys have been locked in a contract dispute with Parsons, who has demanded a trade while sitting out at Dallas training camp in Oxnard, California due to a back injury.
Not only are the Cowboys believed to be the most valuable franchise in all of sports, but the team also has about $34 million in cap space to offer Parsons an extension. Instead, Jones has allowed the issue to boil over into a major distraction at camp.
The contract dispute comes at a time when the Cowboys’ NFC East rivals are all improving. Not only are the Philadelphia Eagles the reigning Super Bowl champions, but the Washington Commanders are coming off a resurgent 12-5 season that ended with an NFC championship berth.
The New York Giants, meanwhile, added highly rated Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter in the draft and enter the season with two veteran quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, as well as rookie first-round pick Jaxson Dart.
Jones, who recently revealed his own successful battle against stage 4 melanoma, is known to let contract disputes fester through training camp. In 2020, quarterback Dak Prescott played on the franchise tag after failing to reach an agreement on a new deal. Last season, Prescott finally got the contract he was looking for just hours before the Week 1 opener, becoming the highest-paid player in NFL history at an average of $60 million a season.
Jerry Jones is known to let contract disputes fester through training camp
Parsons has publicly demanded a trade amid a contract impasse with the Dallas Cowboys
Fans hold signs while watching the Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California
Similarly, receiver CeeDee Lamb held out last season until getting a four-year, $136 million in training camp, and a year prior, it was All-Pro guard Zack Martin who held out of camp before getting a new deal.
Most famously, at the height of the Cowboys’ success in 1993, future Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith missed the first two weeks of the season due to a contract dispute before eventually agreeing to a $13.6 million deal. The team would go on to win the Super Bowl.
The valuation comes four decades after President Donald Trump – then a real estate tycoon – nearly bought the club for just $50 million. The future Commander in Chief told The New York Times in 1984 that he instead bought the fledgling USFL’s New Jersey Generals for $10 million, thinking it was a better value.
‘I could have bought an NFL team,’ Trump told Ira Berkow. ‘There were three or four available – that still are available, including, of course, the Dallas Cowboys.
‘I could have bought an NFL club for $40 million or $50 million, but it’s established and you would just see it move laterally,’ he added. ‘Not enough to create there.’
At the time, Trump expressed his condolences for the unfortunate investor who would ultimately wind up with the Cowboys.
‘I feel sorry for the poor guy who is going to buy the Dallas Cowboys,’ he said. ‘It’s a no-win situation for him, because if he wins, well, so what, they’ve won through the year, and if he loses, which seems likely because they’re having troubles, he’ll be known to the world as a loser.’
Donald Trump and New Jersey Generals running back Herschel Walker pictured in 1983
The original USFL folded in 1986 following the disastrous move from spring to fall football, at Trump’s urging. The rival league ultimately failed to compete with the NFL.
Jones, meanwhile, purchased the hapless Cowboys in 1989 for a mere $140 million dollars and immediately began the process of returning the franchise to its glory years of the 1970s. The team won three Super Bowls in the 1990s.
The Cowboys were the first team to reach a $10 billion valuation last season. Now, according to Sportico, Dallas is joined by the Los Angeles Rams ($10.4 billion) and the New York Giants ($10.2 billion).
The New England Patriots ($8.8b), San Francisco 49ers ($8.6b), Philadelphia Eagles ($8.4b), Miami Dolphins ($8.3b), New York Jets ($8.1b), Las Vegas Raiders ($7.9b) and Washington Commanders ($7.5b) round out the top 10.
