Why do Dallas Cowboys fans side with billionaire owner over the players?

Time and time again we see a sizable portion of the Dallas Cowboys fan base take the side of the billionaire owner over the side of the player when it’s time to negotiate a deal. What gives?

It wasn’t always like this.  Dallas Cowboys fans didn’t always turn on the players they once loyally cheered for. Back when team owners owned the rights to all of their players in perpetuity, it was never an issue. Back in those days the only way a Cowboys player would end up somewhere else is if the team cut him or traded him.

Teams would buy and trade players like they were a bag of equipment. And many times, that’s exactly what they were traded for – a bag of equipment. And it happened whether the player liked it or not. So we as a fan base rarely had to deal with our favorite Dallas Cowboys players playing hard ball in negotiations or moving on and playing elsewhere. Players had no rights and as such, they had no leverage in contract negotiations. It was the good ol days…unless you were a player, of course.

Free Agency

Then free agency came and shook up the whole system. Suddenly players started getting rights and finally had the ability to appraise their value on the open market (albeit a very restrictive open market). That’s when Dallas Cowboys fans became torn.

It’s common to hear Dallas Cowboys fans condemn “greedy players” while completely absolving the billionaire owners of all wrongdoing

With a separation between players and team ownership, fans didn’t know who to support. Simply saying they support the team wasn’t an option since the team was now divided. It now became between the players and the owners. And curiously enough, a sizable portion of the fan base repeatedly sided (and continues to side) with ownership.

While free agency gives some power to the players, it’s still set up to heavily favor the owners. Owners still essentially determine if a player can hit the open market or not. Restricted free agency, the transition tag, and the franchise tags are all set up to help owners and hold back players.

Yet, even with this unfair balance in place, fans repeatedly side with ownership over players. It’s common to hear Dallas Cowboys fans condemn “greedy players” while completely absolving the billionaire owners of all wrongdoing. It’s like they’re OK with owners unfairly* making money hand over fist at the cost of a player who has a very short period of time to build a lifetime of wealth.

*unfairly: not a free market but rather a system that heavily favors ownership

Salary Cap

The primary citation by those Dallas Cowboys fans who side with ownership over players, is the existence of the salary cap. The general idea is the bigger the piece of pie going to Player A the less amount of pie available for the rest of the players.

But there are two problems with this line of thinking:

1. The salary cap was created by owners to curtail their own spending and ensure their own profits.
2. The salary cap is not a zero sum game. It’s a myth.

In The Salary Cap is Fake News, both of these issues are addressed. First, the cap was designed to make teams money – not to keep a competitive balance amongst teams. A cap in spending prevents owners from overbidding and keeps costs within budget.

When ownership complains about being backed up against the cap, it’s disingenuous because they wouldn’t change if they could (and they can – the NFLPA that wants to abolish it). It also gets public opinion on their side because the falsely constructed barrier gives the illusion of a Player A stealing from Players B-Z.

It’s understandable some don’t want to overpay players, but to boldly expect players to play below their value is wrong. Even more absurd is the people calling Dak “greedy” are the same ones who want the team to blatantly pay players less so they can pocket it themselves.

Which brings us to reason No. 2: The salary cap is not a zero sum game. To pay one player you don’t have to steal from another. The cap is highly manipulatable a variety of ways. Stephen Jones is well aware of all the savvy accounting steps to take in order to create cap space without falling into cap hell later (again, check out the salary cap article linked above).

Dallas Cowboys’ Current Example

Because of the pending TV deal, the NFL is expecting the salary cap to grow significantly in 2-years. Players are hesitant to ink new long-term deals because what seems ginormous now will  look pedestrian in 2023.

So guys like Dak Prescott are really just looking to adjust to fair market value when the cap explodes to unknown levels. They’re looking for fairness while the Dallas Cowboys are looking for sweet deals. Exploring the Twittersphere and comments sections fans see this as well. Yet many still think players should suck it up and offer a discount in those latter years.

It’s like greed from a billionaire is just fine but if a millionaire suddenly asks for market value it’s an act of treason.

It’s understandable that some don’t want to overpay players, but to boldly want players to take a bath and play below their value is hard to understand. What’s even more absurd is these people are the ones calling Dak “greedy” while they fully support the team willfully trying to get below-market deals.

Besides, when was the last time the Dallas Cowboys actually maxed out their spending? It’s been nearly a decade since they’ve been near capacity. It’s like greed from a billionaire is just fine but if a millionaire suddenly asks for market value it’s an act of treason.

Who are you cheering for, Dallas Cowboys fans?

With the transient nature of players in the free agency era of the NFL, it’s understandable people feel inclined to side with the logo of the team over the player who may leave. But when you side with the logo you’re siding with the owners because that’s all the logo is.

We spend all season cheering for the players, even buying their jerseys, but when push comes to shove we side with the owners over the guy whose jersey we wear.

Negotiations are ugly and there doesn’t have to be a bad guy. If both sides do their job, both sides look kinda bad. But if you have to pick one side to support, why are so many choosing the rich guy in the suit over the guy making the plays on the field in whom we actively cheer for on Sunday?

This isn’t about any singular player either (although I see a certain fraction of Cowboys Nation taking the opportunity to turn this into just a Dak Prescott evaluation thing). It’s about how ownership has deceived fans into thinking they are the victim of these spending rules and the players are the ones being unreasonable in their demands. Don’t let them fool you.

• Published on 05/07/2020 at 11:01 AM
• Last updated at 05/07/2020 at 12:17 PM