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Having already threatened to fire radio hosts because he didn’t like their questions and criticizing the coaching staff for having bad plays, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is now going after players on the team who don’t like the intrusion of fans into their working space as part of the AT&T Stadium tours.
Appearing on 105.3 The Fan’s The K&C Masterpiece show (h/t The Athletic’s Jon Machota), Jones called it “ridiculous” to think that player performance is impacted by anything that happens on the stadium tour.
The topic became a news item this week when ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler published a story about the level of access that fans have when they purchase a ticket to take a tour of the Cowboys’ home stadium.
While it’s not uncommon for NFL teams to offer tours of their stadium, the Cowboys go above and beyond what they let fans do and see.
Kahler noted the Cowboys are the only team that gives fans access to its facility where players can be seen working out, getting treatment and going through preparation for an upcoming game.
There is one anecdote in the story about a tour group that was “about 3 feet away” from Dak Prescott on the Thursday before the Cowboys’ home game against the Detroit Lions on Oct. 13.
According to Kahler, the Cowboys did say the tours don’t go into the players’ spaces when they are using them. But she added several former players believe the tours are “one of the biggest distractions” of working at AT&T Stadium.
Former Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz, who has been with the Houston Texans since the start of last season, said in March on The Pat McAfee Show that playing for Dallas was like being at a “zoo” because of how much outside activity was always happening.
“There [are] people literally going on tours while you’re lifting in the weight room,” Schultz said. “And they’ve got like a … one-way mirror for people to like look at. It’s literally—it’s a zoo. There [are] people tapping on the glass trying to get people’s attention as they’re doing power cleans or whatnot.”
Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb didn’t seem too enthused about the tours when he was asked about them causing distractions on Thursday.
Prescott said he doesn’t let the tours distract him, calling them a thing “you deal with” and not using it as an excuse for why they have struggled this season.
Jones did add on Friday that the publicity around the tours was good because it will draw more interest to them. The Cowboys already generate around $10 million in ticket revenue from the tours that counts as part of their football-related income.
Since that money is counted as part of the league’s revenue, it helps boost the salary cap, Considering how much Jones has lamented the Cowboys’ lack of activity in free agency on their cap constraints—ignoring that he was one of the key figures who pushed the NFL to implement a salary cap more than 30 years ago—he is at least finding ways to potentially help the team get out of its current predicament in the future if he can bring about a cap spike sooner than later.
For now, though, the Cowboys will try to get their season back on track starting on Sunday when they take on the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.
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