Posted on 09/08/2014 3:37:26 PM PDT by 11th_VA
ARLINGTON, Texas – The swaths of red, San Francisco 49ers red, spread and leached through the stands at AT&T Stadium. It was all over the end zones. It dominated the third deck and standing room areas. It even scattered through the most expensive club seat sections.
Red here. Red there. Red everywhere.
It didn't just speak to the traveling might and national appeal of the Niners. It wasn't just about the power of a Super Bowl contender that would cruise to a 28-17 victory that was far more lopsided than the score suggests.
It also said plenty about the willingness of Dallas Cowboys fans to unload their tickets, or never bother to buy them, for the opener of a season that seems to carry so little promise.
Fifty-percent red? Sixty-percent red? Whatever it was, the number was big, shockingly big for the first game of the season when seemingly every team has hope and the excitement of a live game and a full tailgate is in full swing.
Jerry Jones said he didn't notice.
"Did you count," he asked of the number of Niners fans in attendance?
He owns the Cowboys and owns the building so he was getting paid no matter what. There were 91,174 here, so it was a good day for business.
He's also the team's general manager, so from his luxury box where he entertains friends and business contacts, he says he's watching like an actual football executive and that requires tunnel vision.
"I just pay attention to the field," he said.
Maybe it affects his hearing because in the first quarter as the Niners kept taking Dallas turnovers and scoring touchdowns, the roars for the visiting team were, you'd think, impossible to ignore – 7-0 just 54 seconds in … 14-3 with 5:54 to go in the first quarter … 21-3 not 90 seconds later … 28-3 just before the half …
"I didn't have my eye on the crowd," Jones said. "I had my eye on those turnovers … I don't have any knowledge or information about red shirts or anything."
What Jones can't seem to see or hear or fathom – that this Cowboys season appears bleak and long and hopeless – his fan base has apparently come to accept.
It isn't unusual for customers to bail on a loser and save money for an autumn, but Dallas hadn't lost a game yet when the fans decided to stay home or go fishing or just not care.
Of course, their lack of faith was rewarded by the dreadful start that saw a fumble returned for a touchdown followed by three Tony Romo interceptions, each seemingly worse than the last, that killed any fleeting hope.
Did you put whomever said it on his butt? Geebus.
There was a great article in a financial magazine (maybe Forbes) last year about the NFL's business model. One of the things the author pointed out is that the combination of the high cost of attending games, the advent of NFL game packages on TV, and the great advances in television technology and NFL TV production over the years is starting to hurt NFL team revenues at the gate. Apparently, NFL games on TV are so entertaining that watching a game live has become a boring ordeal for many fans.
Naw it was my boss LOL
First of all, Arlington is a HORRIBLE place for a stadium, it’s in the middle between Dallas and Fort Worth, which means that it takes most people in the Metroplex at least an hour to get there, and that’s assuming the traffic is good.
Also, it costs an arm and a leg to park there, and there is no mass transit there.
Plus the huge TV over the field means you basically wind up watching the game on TV, which you could do if you just stayed home.
They are seriously greedy.
Jerry Jones, the only owner in history who has fired TWO two-time Super Bowl Champion head coaches.
At some point the NFL is going to run out of gas, but I've been saying that for years and it hasn't happened yet.
Nope. It’s because the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are not that ‘hot’ anymore.
I used to go watch them play in play offs when they were Superbowl team.
Giants.. Eagles...
That was like $100.
1K a pop to see losers in pink shoe laces? No Thanks.
Although the article does not mention it, I will.
The curse of Michael Sam has descended on the Dallas Cowboys.
Do you honestly believe that the Cowboy's problem with their fans is only a week old? Really?
America’s Team? HA, they aren’t even Dallas’ team anymore.
I call it the Curse of Josh Brent.
Ain't that the truth.
If Jerry weren't the owner of the Cowboys, he would have been fired long ago for his rotten management of the team.
I'm afraid the 'boys are just gonna keep going downhill, until Jerry croaks, or sells the franchise.
Well I do not see how the average American can take the family out to the NFL ball game anymore.
Jerry isn’t even the worse GM in DFW, that distinction belongs to John Daniels, who just ran off Ron Washington, along with all the others he’s run off.
Drew Pearson, offensive pass interference against Nate Wright, 1975 NFC Divisional Playoff. Called the "Hail Mary", but in actuality one of the worst non-calls in NFL history.
"The Dallas Cowboys may be America's team, but the Houston Oilers are Texas' team." -- Bum Phillips
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