BREAKING NEWS: Cowboys Players Are Addressing Concerns Over a ‘Disturbance’ Caused by Fan Tours at the Team Facility, Indicating That These Tours Might Disrupt Their Training and Focus as They Prepare for the Upcoming NFL Season. .giang

Jerry Jones’ attempts to make money off AT&T Stadium by offering tours of the facilities where the Dallas Cowboys players and coaches are attempting to prepare for games during the week have been met with some resistance.

Per ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler, the Cowboys’ leadership council has had discussions about the “disturbance” that the tours cause but “believed there was nothing they could do” because Jones doesn’t see it as a potential distraction that has an affect on the on-field performance of the team.

“The bottom line is that ever since we’ve been involved and been doing it, for the last 20 years, we’re the sixth-winningest team in the NFL (182-131, .581 in the regular season),” Jones told Kahler. “Since 2016 [the year The Star opened], we’re the fourth-winningest team in the NFL (85-52, .620 in the regular season).”

Kahler did note stadium tours are fairly common practice around the NFL, but the level of access the Cowboys offer is very different from other clubs.

“The Packers’ tours of Lambeau Field intentionally steer clear of player areas in the stadium, which doubles as Green Bay’s facility. The Chargers invited fans to a free open house of their new facility, but it took place in July, before players reported for training camp,” Kahler wrote.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, will offer a tour in which fans could easily come across players and coaches while they are making preparations for an upcoming game.

For instance, according to Kahler, Dak Prescott was walking within three feet of a tour group in a hallway near the Cowboys’ locker room on the Thursday before the team hosted the Detroit Lions on Oct. 13.

The AT&T Stadium website lists six different tours available to fans. Not all of them are football-specific tours. One example is an art tour aimed at showing off the “museum-quality contemporary art” located inside the stadium.

Tight end Dalton Schultz, who played five seasons with the Cowboys before joining the Houston Texans as a free agent after the 2022 campaign, described his former team as “literally a zoo” with people tapping on glass trying to get someone’s attention and all of the distractions around the team during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in March (starts at 7:15 mark).

Jones told Kahler he’s never heard complaints about the tours and fans walking around the stadium once before adding “it wouldn’t make any difference” because they are “swimming against the stream.”

This definitely sounds unique given how often every coach and player talks about just keeping things normal to go through a usual week of preparation to get ready for games without any distractions.

The tours aren’t anything new for the Cowboys. They hosted their 1 millionth fan for a stadium tour back in 2011 and commemorated the moment by having Jones serve as the fan’s tour guide.

Fans interested can take the tour for just $40. If you’re really invested in the Cowboys, a $70 ticket gets you the ultimate fan experience that comes with several perks, including an authentic letter of fandom from Jones.

Anyone who is so deeply invested in the Cowboys that it hurts when they aren’t playing can splurge on the $90 package that gives you access to an interactive experience with a hologram version of Jones who will answer questions fans might have.

It’s unclear if the AI version of the Cowboys owner would have better answers about why they didn’t pursue Derrick Henry than the real one has come up.

Kahler did note the tours generate about $10 million in annual revenue for the Cowboys that is included as part of the team’s football-related income, so at least the intrusion is helping Jones make more money that he can’t spend right now because their cap is apparently in horrendous shape.