Jerry Jones’s Threats Aren’t Empty. A Legend Who Defied Him Knows

Jerry Jones doubled down on his threats to fire local radio hosts by noting he’d previously forced Dallas–Fort Worth legends Dale Hansen and Brad Sham off the air when angered by their coverage.

To get a read on the mercurial Cowboys owner, I talked with the 76-year-old Hansen, who retired in 2021. Why would Jones morph from the NFL’s most accessible owner to a billionaire bully? 

Jones’s media friendliness is a bit of a myth, noted the duPont- and Peabody Award–winning sportscaster. Yes, Jones loves the spotlight. Yes, he conducts more interviews than 10 other NFL owners put together. But Jones has always demanded local Dallas press toes the line. 

Even during the heyday of America’s Team in the mid-1990s, Jones forced out Hansen due to his criticism of him and then-coach Barry Switzer. The difference: The younger Jones worked more sneakily behind the scenes. This time, he’s publicly threatening people’s jobs.

Jones and Hansen had a love-hate relationship. During one interview, Jones became so incensed he slapped Hansen’s hand rather than shaking it. But they always made up a few weeks later.

“Jerry stormed out of the studio because I said to him, ‘Name me one team, in any sport, that would hire you to be their general manager.’ I said, ‘I’ll wait.’”

Hansen admires embattled hosts Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy of 105.3 The Fan for standing up for themselves. But if Jones threatens to move the Cowboys’ rights to another station, he thinks their bosses will fold like a banquet chair.

“I don’t know very many owners—of any organization—who would value their employees over the Dallas Cowboys. That’s a disgusting thought. But it’s absolutely true.”

Jones is a marketing genius, admitted Hansen. Even though the Cowboys haven’t sniffed the Super Bowl for 29 years, they rank as the most valuable NFL franchise at $11 billion, according to CNBC. (Hansen wouldn’t put it past the wily owner to pick a media fight to deflect attention from the team’s brutal 47–9 home loss to the Lions.) But he believes the decades of criticism over Jones’s questionable decisions as GM are taking their toll.

As the late John Madden said: “Winning’s the great deodorant, and conversely, when you have a bad record, everything stinks, and everything starts to unravel, and everything falls apart.”

It was easy for Jones to make peace with Hansen during the ’90s when he was collecting three Lombardi Trophies. Now he’s 82 years old—and his window is closing. With the stench of failure hanging over his beloved Cowboys, Jones is lashing out. 

As Hansen told me: “Jerry is going to go out as one of the most incredible money-makers in the history of sports. But he’s also going to go out as a loser. As an absolute football loser.”