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Oct 27, 2009 8:53 pm US/Central
Jerry Jones Sees Customers Everywhere For Cowboys
CHUCK BARTELS, AP Business Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ―
Like Wal-Mart, Jerry Jones knows how to make a buck in a down market.
"I've always known that sports is a respite during hard times. We've always known that it's a place to go," the Dallas Cowboys owner said Tuesday. "That's one of the reasons you're seeing the ratings that you're seeing."
Jones, addressing an audience of travel professionals at a forum in downtown Little Rock, said his target market is far larger than Cowboys ticket buyers.
Noting that only 7 percent of NFL fans have seen a live game, Jones said that his team's $1.2 billion stadium in Arlington "is an experience that is known throughout the United States or possibly other parts of the world."
Jones, who grew up in North Little Rock about a half-mile from where the U.S. Travel Association's Marketing Outlook Forum took place, said tradition is an important factor in marketing the Cowboys.
"It's not (quarterback Tony) Romo today, it's what he represents," Jones said. "We've got great tradition all over this country. And we've got people that participate. We've got generations that can be tapped into.
"Look for the tradition, don't underestimate it," he said.
Jones recalled how he sold shoes and insurance at the same time while a student athlete at the University of Arkansas in the 1960s. He said he once was working at a Ben Franklin store in Berryville and wound up making a sale to Sam Walton, founder of Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Jones' ambitions are similar to the late Walton's, except he doesn't thrive by offering low prices.
Jones said he had a plan for an $880 million stadium that would have given his team an impressive home. But he said the design didn't have enough of a "wow factor" for him.
He wants the Cowboys Stadium to rank as a vacation destination like Branson, Mo. The stadium draws an average of 3,000 people a day for tours.
"You're selling a frame of mind," Jones said.
It's important for teams to market to avid fans whose generational loyalty and consumer emotion can last for years, he said. However, Jones said, there also needs to be a focus on the broader consumer market, too.
"That's what I talk about when I go to NFL meetings," Jones said.
He said making the sport as visible as possible is also key. Jones is chairman of the NFL owners' network television committee.
"Right now, in the roughest of times ... we have renegotiated every television contract, every satellite contract, every cable contract we had," Jones said. "We have done that in about the last 14 months and have increased the rates, the basic rights fees, upward of 30 percent.
"It's because of the interest in the visibility," he said.
The Dallas Cowboys are the single largest draw on U.S. television, and the new stadium will enhance that status, Jones said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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