Current:Home > reviewsCowboys' Jerry Jones wants more NFL owners of color. He has a lot of gall saying that now. -AssetBase
Cowboys' Jerry Jones wants more NFL owners of color. He has a lot of gall saying that now.
View
Date:2025-04-14 21:53:40
Jerry Jones has a lot of gall. This isn't new. He's had a lot of gall since he bought the Dallas Cowboys decades ago. That gall has served Jones well and helped him build a football empire that, in the end, might end up being the richest in American sports history. But this particular moment of Jones gall is, well, the most galling of all.
In what is an incredibly staggering moment in the life of Jones, he said that he wants to push for more NFL owners of color. The story was so unbelievable it didn't seem real. I checked the date. Nope. Not April 1. It was real.
"Nobody got in on a wing and prayer any more than I did, and I really couldn't afford it," Jones said. "But I got into it and as we look and see − and we do see − the qualified potential buyers out here that can get involved and that's one way. It's not the only way.
"(There are) multiple ways to address inequity. Multiple ways to go do it. And certainly I would think about one way is to try to work to get ownership improved in the minority area. And I'm all for it and I do it. I work at it. I work at it."
That was several days ago. Jones made similar remarks in a radio interview Tuesday on the Shan & RJ show on Audacy's 105.3 The Fan: "I don’t have a lot to add in general … I’m very active, and I’m very positive about having minority potential ownership in the National Football League … The main reason I’m qualified to say that (is because) I came from the back of the pack to get to be a part of ownership. I certainly was not listed anywhere in the thousands and thousands and thousands of people on this Earth as someone that was financially qualified to own an NFL team … My position is the opposite from what I am being critiqued for … I understand because I know the times we’re in. But I want to be a good soldier here.”
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
The galling part to all of this?
Journalist Jim Trotter, a former NFL Media employee, recently filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL. Part of the suit alleges that Jones said, in front of Trotter and others: "If Blacks feel some kind of way, they should buy their own team and hire who they want to hire."
So Jones saying now, literally just days after Trotter's accusations became public, that the league needs more diversity among its ownership, is really something.
Jim Trotter alleges NFL racial discrimination. His claims are huge problem for the league.
Really, really something.
You see, Jones is a majority owner, and people like him make the decisions about their teams and the league. He has been the centrifuge of NFL power for some time. I'm unaware of any extensive effort by Jones to bring in owners of color. It may have happened but I've just never heard about it.
The Cowboys are also one of the NFL teams that have never had a Black head coach. Why should anyone believe he'd push to get owners of color but hasn't even hired a Black head coach? He's owned the team since 1989.
It's possible this topic has been a passion of Jones' for decades and he's spoken about it repeatedly and privately with other owners or Commissioner Roger Goodell. Maybe also in the past Jones has spoken publicly in this way before about this desire to diversify the ownership ranks and I'm missing those comments.
However, and this is important, even if all of that did happen, it wouldn't nullify the fact that Jones is talking publicly about it now. The timing is the problem. It reeks of public relations and a reaction to Trotter's lawsuit.
To me, Jones saying these things gives even more weight to Trotter's claims that were already highly credible.
Jones has denied Trotter's allegations and did so again to ESPN.
"Jim's a friend and I think a lot of him," Jones said. "I hate that we've got some litigation and hopefully we will address all of that, but the overall concern I would say is just not accurate."
Jones added this: "You know the financial hurdles for everything has gone up, but percentage-wise there are qualified people out here. If they aren't here this minute, they're on their way because that's what's happening in this country is people do gain on it and many of the people that recently have gotten involved in the NFL might not have been able to do it 20 years ago.
Vikings' Alexander Mattison reveals racial abuse from fans after fumble in loss to Eagles
"So, continuing to share thoughts and ideas with other people about being involved and from ownership is something that I can speak to. I've wanted it when I couldn't afford it and I am a big disciple, so to speak, that you can do it."
No one is saying Jones is racist. I am, however, saying that on this subject, Jones is full of it.
It seems more that Trotter's lawsuit caught Jones by surprise and stunned both him and the league. This was Jones' way of trying to minimize the damage. It didn't work.
Despite the massive amount of gall.
veryGood! (81)
Related
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Georgia family plagued by bat infestation at Savannah home: 'They were everywhere'
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wins record $19.9 million in salary arbitration against Blue Jays
- Vanderpump Rules' Katie Maloney Details Strange Date With This Charlie's Angels Star
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- Feds make dozens of bribery arrests related to New York City public housing contracts
- Feds make dozens of bribery arrests related to New York City public housing contracts
- Kentucky lawmakers dine with homeless people as they consider creating unlawful camping offense
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- A 94-year-old was lying in the cold for hours: How his newspaper delivery saved his life
Ranking
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Satellite images show scale of Chile deadly wildfires, destroyed neighborhoods
- Controversy over the Black national anthem at the Super Bowl is a made up problem
- New Online Dashboard Identifies Threats Posed by Uranium Mines and Mills in New Mexico
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- How Grammys Execs Used a Golf Cart to Rescue Mariah Carey From Traffic
- Snoop Dogg sues Walmart and Post, claiming they sabotaged cereal brands
- Rizo-López Foods cheese and dairy products recalled after deadly listeria outbreak
Recommendation
Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
On live TV, Guardian Angels rough up a man in Times Square then misidentify him as a ‘migrant’
Rizo-López Foods cheese and dairy products recalled after deadly listeria outbreak
Carlos DeFord Bailey is continuing his family's legacy of shining shoes by day and making music at the Opry at night
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told Trump she'd resign as chair
U.S. detects and tracks 4 Russian warplanes flying in international airspace off Alaska coast
Ohio backs off proposed restrictions on gender-affirming care for adults