The Dallas Cowboys Brand Has Outgrown Football

The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable sports brand in the world, even if the scoreboard and standings disagree. Forbes and Sportico estimate that the Cowboys brand is worth between $6.5 billion and $7 billion. Much of that value can be seen from Cowboys evp and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones Anderson’s window: the organization’s worldwide headquarters at The Star, the 91-acre, $1.5 billion mixed-use complex built by the team in Frisco, Texas, in 2016. The headquarters of Dr. Pepper Keurig sits right across the practice fields. The Twelve Cowboys Way luxury condo complex is a few blocks down the street. The Cowboys’ real estate holdings host high school football at the Ford Center and tourists at the Omni Frisco Hotel. There are dozens of restaurants, shops and boutiques (including Jones Anderson’s own Charlotte Jones Collection) in The Star District. The Cowboys have a hand in multiple ventures catering to numerous other business partners. “Honestly, with our club, we haven't enjoyed the level of success that we would hope for, in terms of our on-field performance,” Jones Anderson conceded. “So all of this [brand building], for us, has really been almost in spite of that. We've had competitive teams. But we certainly have fallen short of our goal of getting to the Super Bowl. Hanging on to that relevancy and building back that value and importance is what drives us every day.” Amid NFL Coverage and Her Apparel Line, Erin Andrews Is Still Not Busy Enough America’s Brand The Dallas Cowboys haven’t been a bad team of late, but they haven’t been great. The franchise has won five Super Bowls, but none since 1996. They’ve won 10 conference titles, but none in 25 years. Within that last quarter century, they’ve managed just 12 winning seasons. Even Adweek’s international editor, David Griner, wondered where the value existed within those underwhelming results. https://twitter.com/griner/status/1435610363630915595 But Jones Anderson and her father, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, have seen far worse. When he purchased the Cowboys for $118 million in 1989, it was losing $1 million a day. Its main attractions were a coach’s hat and a stadium with a hole in its roof “so God can watch His favorite team play.” Ownership brought in new coaches. They used the Cowboys’ lowly state to amass draft picks, and traded away stars for even more draft selections. Within seven years, the Cowboys would win three Super Bowls, and the team would earn enough clout to start building a brand beyond the field. Going their own way In 1995, the Cowboys ignored the NFL’s deals with Coca-Cola and Visa and partnered with Pepsi and American Express. They also brought AT&T and Nike aboard without cutting the league in on the deal. The NFL sued for shared revenue, the Cowboys countersued to keep what they’d earned, and both dropped the suits a year later. That gave the brand some extraordinary leverage going forward, and led to more partnerships like the Cowboys’ deal with Miller Lite that still runs counter to the NFL’s partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev. “[Jerry Jones] understood a lot earlier than most that when you own a team, you're not really owning a football team, per se, but you're owning a brand,” said Michael Ozanian, executive editor at Forbes and creator of its team valuation database. “That brand [represents] millions and millions of consumers who want to be associated not just with the team, but with each other.” LA Rams Name Live Event Marketing Veteran Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick CMO as Fans Return From punting to putting greens In 2001, the team built the Dallas Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine, Texas. It remains the only NFL-branded golf club in the world. After the Cowboys accounted for 28% of all NFL licensing royalties in 1994, the team opted out of the NFL’s deal with Reebok in 2002 and began distributing its own merchandise. Instead of dividing that revenue evenly with the rest of the league, it gave NFL teams 16% and kept the rest for itself. The reality is that the Dallas Cowboys are a dramatically bigger business than any other football team.Kurt Badenhausen, sports valuations reporter, Sportico The Cowboys brand now includes its own merchandise company, 289c Apparel, that began operating in 2009. That brand extension, which includes Jones as a member of its board, now makes gear for the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and the Cotton Bowl. “The reality is that the Dallas Cowboys are a dramatically bigger business than any other football team,” said Kurt Badenhausen, the sports valuations reporter at Sportico who helped engineer team valuations as senior editor at Forbes. “Jerry Jones has built a super compelling business off of a very strong brand, and has really maximized revenue for the Cowboys by breaking into other businesses.” Fans who aren’t fans The Cowboys’ $1.3 billion AT&T Stadium—built in 2009 with the blessing and tax dollars of Arlington, Texas, voters—may be its crowning achievement. A 3-million-square-foot palace of luxury suites, clubs, VIP rooms, artwork and dancers in cages, the Cowboys’ home holds more than 130,000 spectators at its full capacity. It’s also run by Legends Hospitality, a joint venture between the Cowboys and the New York Yankees that handles concessions, ticket sales and even naming rights deals at multiple facilities around the country. Legends partners include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, and the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers’ new home, SoFi Stadium, which will also host the upcoming Super Bowl in January. While Cowboys fans enjoy AT&T Stadium’s retractable roof and glass doors, 58-yard screen and works by 18 artists, those elements and the Legends Hospitality offerings targeted visitors who may never watch a game. “We wanted things that would capture people's attention [who] weren't already looking at us,” Jones Anderson said. “That is an important element as we move forward, is to be able to do things that people don't expect us to do that allow others to look at us that wouldn't be looking at us before.” NFL’s Raiders Rebuild Their Fanbase After a Lonely First Year in Vegas Cowboys and Yankees As Facebook discovered a few years back, the Cowboys brand reaches all across the United States. According to marketing firm Helixa’s analysis of Twitter data, the Cowboys are No. 1 in Texas in terms of NFL teams’ social media reach, but rank among the Top 3 in 11 other states in terms of social media reach. It ranks third overall in the U.S. (behind only the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs) and among millennials (25-40) and Generation X (41-56). It’s part of the reason why, despite going 6-10 last season, the Cowboys were scheduled to play in the NFL’s kickoff game at the start of the season, a Monday Night Football game two weeks later, and their annual Thanksgiving Day game. “Teams like the Cowboys and Yankees have appeal far beyond the borders of a traditional sponsorship deal,” said Adam Holt, svp of sales for data-driven marketing firm FanAI. “They take the lion's share of nationally broadcasted games, and their fans span the entire universe as they want to be associated with the iconic brands.” The Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs Ruled Facebook as the NFL Regular Season Ended Evergreen engagement However, according to Helixa, the Cowboys draw less attention among fans 24 and younger—who weren’t alive when the team won its last Super Bowl. While the Cowboys plow more than $254 million into team payroll, more than any other team in the NFL, more young fans may have seen quarterback Dak Prescott or running back Ezekiel Elliot on HBO’s Hard Knocks than in actual games. If we need this to be an evergreen engagement and exist beyond the time of the season... how do we meet people where they are?Charlotte Jones Anderson, evp and chief brand officer, Dallas Cowboys So the most valuable sports brand in the world tries adding value through non-sports avenues. It messes around on TikTok. It forms a partnership with the WinStar casino just over the border from Frisco in Oklahoma as Texas drags its feet on sports gambling. It creates a “sticky presence” among consumers who might not stick around otherwise. https://www.tiktok.com/@dallascowboys/video/6991661403040009477?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1 “When you are successful on the field, and you are the one holding up the trophy at the end of the year, that carries you a long way,” Jones Anderson said. “When you're not, you have to address what can carry you when that can't. “If we need this to be an evergreen engagement and exist beyond the time of the season, and have an avidity that is more of a lifestyle and a culture, how do we meet people where they are?” NFL Data Finds Audiences Where Commercials Can’t