The Dallas Cowboys may be considered America's team, but that apparently isn't enough for Dallas mayor Eric Johnson, who tweeted last week he thinks the city should get another NFL team.
The answer is Dallas. Why? We are about to pass the Chicago metro and become the #3 metro in the US, which would make us the largest US metro WITHOUT 2 teams. Football is king here. Dallas needs an expansion team and we would be able to sustain 2 @NFL teams better than LA or NY. https://t.co/ikG0oeZq4T
— Mayor Eric Johnson (@Johnson4Dallas) May 5, 2022
Johnson doubled-down to say a second team will have to play within the city limits to carry the city name, something other teams across the NFL do regularly.
The City of Dallas won’t be allowing any more teams who don’t actually have any of their assets located within our city limits use our name, so if the NFL wants the Frisco Chargers or Frisco Jaguars to be their next expansion team, that’s their call.
— Mayor Eric Johnson (@Johnson4Dallas) May 6, 2022
Once you step away from Johnson throwing unsolicited shade at Los Angeles and New York, you can partially see where he's coming from. Dallas is a huge football city and the Cowboys rake in a ton of fans and a ton of dough - not to mention that they dominate TV ratings year after year. With that in mind, it would seem to make sense to give the Cowboys a hometown rival.
That being said, it's very hard to imagine Dallas Cowboys owner and overlord Jerry Jones giving the go-ahead for his team to share the spotlight with anyone else. It's well-known that Jones has the final say on this kind of thing, although Johnson appears to have dug his heels in quite a bit.
So far the main reason I hear for why this can’t happen is because of Jerry Jones. Well, first, let’s not put words in Mr. Jones’s mouth. Second, I work for the residents of Dallas, not Jerry Jones. Third, other NFL team owners also do not work for Jerry Jones, but themselves.
— Mayor Eric Johnson (@Johnson4Dallas) May 5, 2022
Given Jones' love of having the last word, it's actually a bit surprising he hasn't issued a statement yet in response to Johnson's comments. But there is no doubt there will be some kind of public back-and-forth between these two over the summer. As if the Cowboys don't have enough off-field drama to deal with already.
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