Jerry Jones is one of the greatest businessmen that the world has ever seen. He’s so good that a few months from now he’ll be immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Many will say that Jerry only cares about the business side of the NFL, but it’s how he’s woven that business into his football operations that makes him great. He’s the best at adapting there is, so much so that he even understands what millennials want.
Why should it be considered something of importance that Jerry Jones understands millennials? Speaking as a millennial, even millennials don’t know what they want. The whole idea of the generation is that it’s an ever-changing stream of whatever works best, which is difficult to market to. Not for Jerry Jones.
Consider the 2016 Dallas Cowboys. What was so appealing to millennials about them? They were superstars! Dez Bryant already fits that bill, Jason Witten is the cool old-man exception, but Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott came in and captivated a generation hungry for a cause to stand behind.
Remember that the NFL as a whole saw a drop in ratings across the 2016 season. Who saved them? The young, hotshot, millennial kids! Why? Their on-field charisma resonated with older more Generation-X audiences, and in collusion with that their off-field likability resonated with Millennials.
Many professional sports owners would have merely ridden this wave as opposed to adding more fuel to it, that’s what separates Jerry Jones from the field. The team that works for DallasCowboys.com and all of the creative minds inside The Star share the innovative spirit that has made Jerry Jones so famous. They used this to create hybrid-like moments throughout the 2016 season, specifically to appeal to millennials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68b0QTtV7cE
At the end of the day talent is what matters in terms of yielding success, and thankfully both Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott have a lot of it; however, think about how quickly they ascended to the forefront of America’s Team.
Do you know how old the average member of the Dallas Cowboys was entering the 2016 season? 26 years old. Those are millennials! Unlike his peers at NFL Ownership level – who are just now realizing that celebrating should be fun – Jerry Jones has understood what makes younger people tick for a long time, because of how good he is at developing relationships with people.
Remember that the Dallas Cowboys destroyed the field when it came to jersey sales this past season. So much of the reputation beheld to America’s Team is rightfully and properly credited to the men that came before Jerry… legends like Tex Schramm, Tom Landry, and Roger Staubach.
As true as all of that is, Jerry Jones has made sure that the Cowboys stayed atop the mountain of popularity as Millennials have grown into adulthood. We are entering a point in time where Millennials are becoming more and more engrained in the foundations of society. Where everyone else is just now catching up, Jerry has already moved past.
It’s fair to say that what Ezekiel Elliott and more specifically Dak Prescott did last season was not predicted by anyone. But where anyone would have settled for being a part of the ride, Jerry not only called shotgun but took hold of the wheel… and drove off into the sunset.
Truth Rj, this is only the beginning once we win our 1st super bowl in 20 years we WILL break the internet, we nearly broke Fox during our playoff game in January, it only gets better