Dallas mayor Eric Johnson has doubled down on his comments about bringing the Kansas City Chiefs back to Dallas.
After a recent post from Mayor Johnson on X, formerly known as Twitter, called for the Chiefs to return to their original home in Dallas following a failed sales tax proposal in Missouri that would have helped renovate Arrowhead Stadium, he elaborated on his goal of bring Dallas a second NFL team to the Athletic.
“The connections are so deep, the history is so rich,” Johnson explained. “We actually could put together the deals that would make sense for them to get them here.”
Perhaps the most interesting revelation from the interview is Mayor Johnson’s “open communication” with Chiefs owner and president Clark Hunt. Hunt, the son of Chiefs’ founder Lamar Hunt, is a former SMU soccer player who lives in Dallas and has plenty of additional ties to the area, including FC Dallas of the MLS.
Johnson also believes Dallas would be a great economic fit for another NFL franchise, as it could become the third-largest metropolitan market in the U.S. by the 2030s, trailing Los Angeles and New York City, which both have two NFL teams.
Mayor Johnson has pushed for a second NFL team in Dallas for years, and he sees an excellent opportunity for the league, whether it is the Chiefs or an expansion team.
“When the NFL looks at the next round of expansion, they will not find an American city where there is not an NFL franchise currently that will be a more lucrative or faster-growing market to put a team,” he added.
The NFL has discussed expansion over the past year, but the ideas were mostly based on adding internationally based teams due to the success of the league’s annual International Series, which continues to grow and evolve. But would it consider U.S. markets as well? And where would a second Dallas team play?
While we may not know the answer to that first question at this point, Mayor Johnson has mentioned the Cotton Bowl and Hensley Field as possible homes for a second NFL franchise.
The most significant opposition to Mayor Johnson’s efforts comes from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who believes the NFL would not add a second team in the area because it could interfere with his team’s market.
“I like him personally, but he doesn’t have the depth,” Jones once told The Dallas Morning News. “He doesn’t have the knowledge that others have regarding how unique Dallas is and how we enjoy the interest in the Cowboys. He wouldn’t want to water that down as it relates to Dallas if he knew as much, and has spent as much time in sports as I have.”
“You can be rest assured that you would not have the NFL supporting another team because of the kind of value that the game and the NFL receives of having [the] Dallas Cowboys as one of its marquee teams and again, logic tells you [the NFL] wouldn’t want to water that down,” Jones concluded.
Despite the opposition from Jones, Mayor Johnson believes the argument can be made to appeal to Jones’ business senses.
“You never say never because he’s a businessman and he’s in the business of making money,” Johnson told the Athletic. “There is a strong argument to make that the Cowboys’ franchise value is not tied to the city it plays in or is connected with. It’s an international phenomenon at this point.”
“It’s not about us,” he continued. “It’s about what’s in the best interests of these organizations we care about. I believe there’s an argument to be made to Jerry Jones that is not hurtful and potentially beneficial to the Jones family and the Dallas Cowboys to be the epicenter of football by having two NFL franchises, one in each conference, that compete here every single week and bring attention to this market.”