Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and has played its home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, since its opening in 2009. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season, following the team's decision to sell the stadium's naming rights to telecommunications company AT&T.[6][7] In January 2020, Mike McCarthy was hired as head coach of the Cowboys.[8] He is the ninth in the team's history.[9] McCarthy follows Jason Garrett, who coached the team from 2010 to 2019.[9]
Dallas Cowboys
Cowboys Stampede March
Jerry Jones
Jerry Jones
The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960.[10] The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs. The Cowboys' streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games (home and away) began in 2002.[11] The franchise has made it to the Super Bowl eight times, tying it with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos for second-most Super Bowl appearances in history behind the New England Patriots' record 11 appearances. Their eight NFC championships are tied for most in the conference's history. The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons (from 1966 to 1985) during which they missed the playoffs only twice (1974 and 1984).[12]
In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable sports team in the world, according to Forbes.[13] The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U.S. sports team.[13] In 2018, they also became the first NFL franchise to be valued at $5 billion[14] and making Forbes' list as the most valued NFL team for the 12th straight year.[15]
Thanksgiving Day games
In their seventh season in 1966, the Cowboys agreed to host a second NFL Thanksgiving game; the tradition of a team hosting on Thanksgiving had been popularized by the Detroit Lions (who had hosted a game on the day mostly un-interrupted since moving to Detroit in 1934). General manager Tex Schramm wanted to find a way to boost publicity on a national level for his team, which had struggled for most of the 1960s. In fact, the NFL guaranteed a cut of the gate revenue in the belief that the game would not be a hit because of said struggle. With a kickoff just after 5 p.m. CST,[81] over eighty thousand fans (and millions viewing on CBS) saw the Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns 26–14 at the Cotton Bowl.[82][83][84]
In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the St. Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas as a host team. Dallas then hosted St. Louis in 1976 in an effort by the NFL to give St. Louis national exposure. Although the Cardinals, at the time known as the "Cardiac Cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, the games did not prove as successful. Owing to factors that ranged from ugly contests to opposition from the Kirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game (a local high school football contest) led to Dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978. It was then, after Rozelle asked Dallas to resume hosting Thanksgiving games, that the Cowboys requested (and received) an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day for good; as such, the Cowboys play in the late afternoon.[85]
Dallas Cowboys training camp locations:[138]
Nationwide fanbase
Fan support
Ever since the team joined the NFL in 1960, the franchise have garnered strong fan support in both the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the state of Texas, the Cowboys are often referred to as "America's Team".[139][140][141]
Criticism
Despite the success of the franchise and a large Cowboys' fanbase, many fans of other NFL teams have come to dislike the Cowboys.[142][143][144][145] Over the past couple of years, the Cowboys' fanbase had been labeled as the most annoying in all of sports.[146] ESPN host and commentator Stephen A. Smith has validated this claim.[147]
Fight song
The Dallas Cowboys fight song, "Cowboys Stampede March" by Tom Merriman Big Band was the official fight song of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys used at Texas Stadium 1961 until about the early-mid '90s.
"This little platter came from the personal collection of Tex Schramm, and it seems to be from the dawn of the Dallas Cowboys when he was casting about for a song to associate with the team. Eventually, the song "Cowboy Stampede March" would become THE song associated with the team thru their broadcasts in the '60s thru the '80s." George Gimarc
The Cowboys now play We Dem Boyz by Wiz Khalifa for starting defensive line, because of the saying "How Bout Dem Cowboys." For every touchdown scored by the Cowboys at a home game the song "Cowboys and Cut Cigars" by The Burning of Rome is played after a train horn.
