NFL billionaire says new stadium for fellow NFL billionaires is “wonderful opportunity” for taxpayers

If you don’t follow the NFL closely, know this: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is a big deal in the league. He owns the league’s most valuable team, co-owns a company that is gobbling up stadium management contracts for half of pro sports, and somehow managed to convince the league to give the Los Angeles market to Rams owner Stan Kroenke on the grounds that he has “big balls.” He’s a power broker, in other words, and when he talks, people listen.

So it should probably come as no surprise that The Athletic has devoted an entire article to Jones saying things like this about the Buffalo Bills stadium campaign:

“Without a question, the Pegulas have proven that they have Buffalo’s best interests at heart,” Jones told The Athletic on Monday. “They are committed with their resources and are willing to risk that to participate in a partnership to build this stadium for the fans. That, to me, is everything.

“You literally got an ownership that you can bet on, that is unequivocal in its commitment.”…

Literally an ownership that you can bet on. What kind of odds does FanDuel offer for a $100 wager on the Pegulas’ commitment, I wonder?

“They don’t want a free lunch here,” Jones said of the Pegulas. “They have made a huge investment in the Bills and are willing to make more. We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for the State of New York and for Buffalo to use the most valuable thing there is on television to promote that area and to show the country and the world what Western New York is. That’s priceless.”

So, the Pegulas aren’t asking for “a free lunch” because they’re willing to pay for maybe something less than half the cost of a new stadium, and New York state has a chance to show the world what Western New York is by promoting it on TV, after already doing so for the last 61 years. Unassailable logic!

The Athletic didn’t indicate why they were talking to Jones — did he ring them up to talk their ears off about why a Bills stadium would be great, or did their Bills beat reporter figure phoning the Cowboys owner would be a good way to find a story to file — but they give him a ton of space, and ask zero tough questions like “Is only asking for $700 million in taxpayer money really not a ‘free lunch’?” The rest of the article is a fact dump of any other Bills stadium information lying around, like where a stadium is likely to be built (probably suburban Orchard Park, but maybe downtown Buffalo, who can really say?) and what role personal seat licenses will have in providing funding (they “will be part of the new fan experience”). Speaking of PSLs, Jones has this to say about them:

“The PSLs that were used to build the original Texas Stadium, by the time I bought the team 20 years later, were worth over 10 times what people paid for them. Those PSL bonds were selling not for the original $2,000, but for $25,000.”

And those same PSLs are now worth nothing, because Jones got the city of Arlington to give him $325 million to help build a new stadium, with all-new PSLs, which will be a hot ticket up until Jones decides he wants an even newer stadium. I so wish I had the opportunity to ask Jones some followup questions, but I guess reporters who ask followup questions don’t get the privilege of an audience with the Cowboys owner. Ah, access journalism!