It's so charming that folks are still upset when billionaires sell the naming rights of their massive stadiums to mammoth corporations. But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was only tied to "Cowboys Stadium" until he could find a prominent company to throw millions at him.
If you can build a $1.2 billion stadium (with help from Arlington citizens) during a recession, you can afford to be picky about a corporate sponsor. I always held out hope for Victoria's Secret Miracle Bra Stadium, but alas, AT&T was prepared to offer Jerry more support.
I'm never comfortable defending Jones, but in this case he's done absolutely nothing wrong. He never pretended "Cowboys Stadium" was anything but a placeholder when it came to naming rights. I think he was a little embarrassed that it took him so long to find the right partner/amount of money, but his patience was likely rewarded. Jones isn't prone to humility, but he did admit this wasn't the largest naming rights deal in the history of professional sports. It was also announced the City of Arlington would receive 5 percent of the naming rights revenue in order to pay off its debt.
"AT&T is an iconic American leader that has guided the path of communication in the world for more than 100 years," Jones said in a team release Thursday. "Our stadium has always been about providing fans with an unsurpassed experience in the area of technology. With AT&T, we are growing our relationship with one of the world's strongest and most innovative companies to ultimately provide fans with the latest cutting-edge technology for many years to come."
Will this help with the wi-fi in the press box? Oh never mind, you guys don't care about that. What Jerry did was wait until a company stacked the money high enough to take the word "Cowboys" out of the name. Does that make him a greedy opportunist? Well, of course.
But should he apologize for that? Not in a million years.
With so many unbelievable sporting events coming to town on an annual basis, Jones felt like it was time to make a move. Now, if he can just find a few healthy defensive linemen.
