Jerry Jones Was $50,000 Away From Owning This Historically Undermined Franchise Instead of America’s Team, The Dallas Cowboys

The proud owner of the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones once explored the possibility of owning another NFL franchise. Jones was striving in his early 20s to make a name for himself. He found the arena of professional football as his calling. While his father, Pat Jones, was earning all the riches in the insurance business, his son was keen to enter the riches of professional football.

The search for his team led him to look for opportunities in the American Football League in 1966 by borrowing funds. Among the teams that grabbed Jones’ interest was the then-San Diego Chargers. The franchise was looking for new ownership after becoming a secondary asset for Barron Hilton. It was a failing business that was bleeding money for the then-Chargers majority owner Hilton.

Jerry Jones nearly sealed the deal for the San Diego Chargers

With the backing of a group of investors in Missouri, Jones agreed to a $5.8 million deal. While the investors were backing him for his pizza business, Jones was having plans of using the funds. Hilton was reportedly impressed with Jones and his structuring of the deal for him. After almost 47 years since the latter struck a deal, Jones claims, “The thing I could do better than anything back then was borrow money.”

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While his bid garnered a lot of attention in the media, Jones was unable to stop the news from reaching his father. Pat Jones was outrightly against investing or lending funds while doing everything possible to dissuade his son. A deal breaker for the current Cowboys owner in 1966 was for him to generate $50,000 to retain exclusive negotiating rights.

The Dallas Cowboys fans would be glad to be part of Jerry’s World

Jones reminisces about his father’s advice while stating, “I don’t think he’s going to be worth a hill of beans…Well, he didn’t really say ‘hill of beans. He said something that can’t be repeated in the newspaper.”

It was the death knell for his chances of buying the Chargers franchise, and made the call to Hilton to end his interest.

While the thought of what could have been plagues Jones, the longtime Cowboys fans will be glad about his entry in 1989.

The Chargers continue to find their feet in the NFL, while the Cowboys transformed into a financial juggernaut under Jones. As another NFL season approaches in 2022, Jones will be looking to gear his boys for a challenging season.

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