History of The NFL Dallas Cowboys - Essay Example

NFL Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys (America’s Team or Doomsday Defense) are a Professional American football team that plays in the National Football League. Klayman ranked the team as the second highest valued sports franchise in the world (par, 2). Sullivan & Jeff indicate that the team was formed in 1960 and entered the NFL as an expansion team (1). However, it was not easy as the owner at the time, Murchison had to purchase Washington Redskins fight song “Hail to the Redskins” in order to get Redskin’s owner (Marshall) vote.

This action gave birth to the rivalry between these two teams to date. H.R “Bum” Bright bought the team in 1984 from Murchison. The team produced bad results, and during the savings and loan crisis the team was taken over by FSLIC. Mr. Bright had little options to save the team hence Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989. The team has three stadiums since its formation as argued by Sullivan & Jeff (89). Cotton Bowl (originally know as Fair Park Bowl) was their first stadium, and they used it during their first 11 years in the NFL.

The stadium got its name from the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game (The event moved to the Cowboys Stadium since 2010). The stadium is their only stadium within Dallas city limits. In October 24, 1971, the team moved to Texas stadium where majority of the Cowboys history was made. Dallas Cowboys played in the stadium for 37 years. The team lost their final game in Texas Stadium on December, 20, 2008 to Baltimore Ravens before moving to their current stadium. Cowboys Stadium is the team’s current home stadium.

The Stadium is also the first to be located outside Dallas County and is the largest domed stadium in the world. In their analysis Sullivan & Jeff say that Dallas Cowboys have won many championships during the 52 years since they began playing in the NFL (34). The team won their first championship (NFL Eastern Conference Championship) in 1966. They have won the Conference Championship (NFL Eastern and NFC) 10 times. In Division Championship, the Cowboys have performed well by clinching 21 titles.

However, the team made their greatest achievement in 1971, when they won the Super Bowl for the first time with Tom Landry as the coach. They won the title again in 1977. When Jerry took over, he fired him and replaced him with Jimmy Johnson who also won the title twice (1992 and 1993). Jimmy was replaced by Barry Switzer who won their last Super Bowl in 1995. Since their formation, the team’s uniform has changed a lot but the blue color has always been their regular color. During 1960 to1963, seasons they used blue jersey and white jersey as their home and away jersey respectively.

The jersey had two stars on the shoulder. In 1964, the NFL allowed teams to wear white jersey as the home color. Cowboys changed the white jersey as they home jersey and vice versa. The team’s helmet has not changed so much. The only major change is the color from silver to “metallic silver blue”. They also replaced the two stars with stripes. The White jersey has been their home color since then but has undergone several design changes. However, they have used their first design jersey on special occasions.

The Cowboys have a great impact to Dallas city. Sullivan & Jeff argue that the economic benefit Dallas city has received as a result of the Cowboys is unmatched with all the other teams in the city (104). Dallas city become the first city to host the super bowl which was held at the Cowboys stadium in 2011. During the super bowl the majority of the city’s industries made a boom and as a result the city’s revenue increased. The stadium is also a great attraction to majority of America football fans who travel to see the huge video display in the stadium (the video display was awarded the Guinness World Records as the largest high definition video display in 2009.

However, it has been suppressed in size by the screen at the Charlotte Motor Speedway). The Cowboys have employed many people in the city. The Stadium for instance has employed over 500 people in different departments. The infrastructure of the city has also improved greatly as the cowboys attract many developers in the region. Sullivan & Jeff argue that the Cowboy Stadium alone attracted about 50 developers who were willing to contact with the NFL not just for the stadium but also the infrastructure around the stadium (96).

The rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and other teams is also of great benefit to the Dallas city. The game between the Redskins and Cowboys is one of the most watched games in the NFL. Most of the city vendors make good returns by selling both teams merchandise when the game is held at the Cowboy Stadium. Sullivan & Jeff continue arguing that the team has greatly changed the standard of college football in the City (189). Most of the college teams have benefited when the Cowboys use their fields as training grounds or even sign some of their players to play for them.

Jerry Jones (current owner) came to a decision to build the Cowboys Stadium in order to increase the sitting capacity since the Texas stadium was a bit small. Walker argues that, Jones wanted the fans to leave home and come to the stadium to watch the games and hence made the stadium comfortable by including 300 suites (par, 7). The Texas Stadium had 79 straight sell outs, and the number of their fans was increasing. Walker also quotes Jack Hill (Cowboy’s Stadium manager) saying that they also had the Super Bowl in mind (par, 5).

However, Sullivan & Jeff argue that Jeff built the stadium for pride (205). They believe that Jones wanted to establish the Cowboys presences in the entire world and he achieved it when Cowboys Stadium was completed. Works cited Klayman, Ben. "NFL average team value tops $1 billion: Forbes. Web. September 11th, 2008. Web Sullivan, Jeff. Americas Team: The Official History of the Dallas Cowboys.

California: PGW publishers. 2010. Print Walker, Don. “Jerry Jones built Cowboys Stadium with a Super Bowl in mind”. Web. February 1st, 2011. Web