Not long after the 2013 season came to another playoffs-less close, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he wasn’t worried about frustrated Dallas fans losing interest because, even when they’re losing, the team puts on a show. So it might come as a surprise to Jones that in 2013, for the third consecutive year, fewer local fans tuned in to see that show.
According to Street & Smith’s SportsBusinessDaily.com, back in 2011, the Cowboys had an average local market rating of 32.8. In 2012, that figure dropped to 29.4 and this year, it slid to 28.9. That’s a drop of 12 percent in the past two years, the seventh largest decline of any team in the league.
For 2013, the Cowboys ranked 15th in the league in average local ratings--which is still in the top half of the league, of course, but not good by any means, by Dallas standards--and this speaks to what Jones has so vehemently denied. Entertainment factor aside, fans like their football teams to win football games. And if the Cowboys continue to struggle with that, all but the most dedicated fans will slowly begin to tune out.
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