On the surface, the notion of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sharing the Dallas market with another team is ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that many believe Jones would not want a team potentially horning in on the Cowboys’ turf in San Antonio. However, it’s one thing to share a market. It’s quite another to share a stadium.
Jones owns the facility in which the Cowboys play. He could take on a tenant. He could host another 10 games there each year, doubling the annual inventory to 20. He’d make a lot more money, and the Cowboys would still be the Cowboys.
It’s a no-brainer, especially as the Dallas market grows. It’s a no-brainer for the NFL to expand, especially as the gambling-driven appetite for more inventory grows. After inevitably nudging the size of the season from 17 regular-season games to 18, the only way to create more games on which to wager (as explained in Playmakers) will be to expand the league.
New York and L.A. already have two teams that share a stadium. Chicago is an obvious candidate for a second team. Dallas is, too.
Beyond market size, stadium construction costs also become relevant. By putting a second team in an existing building, the cost of the second team’s stadium is zero dollars and zero cents.
And with the owner of an existing stadium standing to earn plenty of extra money by staging all of those extra games, why not do it?
Again, the market has to be big enough to justify it. Chicago and Dallas are. And so as the league prepares to eventually balloon from 32 teams to 34 (and maybe 36, 38, and possibly 40), it makes plenty of sense for America’ Team to share its home.
In the early days of the AFL, Dallas did indeed have two teams. The Cowboys and the Dallas Texans competed for hearts, minds, eyeballs, and wallets until the Texans surrendered, moving to Missouri and becoming the Chiefs. That was a much different world, and the game was in a much different place.
Today, football rules and Texas fancies itself as the epicenter of the game. It doesn’t take long to conclude that the possibility of a second team in Dallas should have been on the radar screen a long time ago.
