FRISCO, Texas – Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Class of 2025 on Tuesday night.
Jones joins the likes of broadcasting legends like Lee Corso, Greg Gumbel, Pam Oliver and others that are set to be inducted in New York City in December.
"I immediately thought, 'My goodness, this is quite an honor,'" Jones told DallasCowboys.com when he received the news. "It's an honor for the Dallas Cowboys, because we have a perception of being substantive relative to broadcasting, relative to journalism. It has everything to do with why I'm as aggressive or as active or a combination of that and appreciative of the people in the profession."
Aside from his duties as owner of the Cowboys, Jones has been instrumental in the overall impact behind the scenes of the entire NFL that have helped it become the most popular sport in the United States. A large part of that was his contribution to securing televion rights deals.
In 1992, several league owners wanted to organize a give back to networks. Jones saw an opportunity for economic growth instead, and took advantage of an opportunity that then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue offered him to come join in on contract negotiations with the television networks.
During those meetings, Jones helped foster talks that ultimately led to Fox offering $100 million more per season than CBS did at the time, and helped the league's total television contract reach $1.1 billion.
And grow the game they did, with the latest media rights deals between the NFL and television networks like Amazon, CBS, ESPN, FOX, and NBC reaching $110 billion over 11 years back in 2021. Without Jones' contributions to the negotiations several decades ago, the NFL's relationship with their media partners could've been vastly different.
Over 34 years, Jones has accrued a combined total of 136 years of service on 15 different NFL ownership committees.
At present, Jones Chairmans the NFL Media O&O and Pro Football Hall of Fame committees and is a member of the NFL Media Committee.
