Dallas Cowboys put staff in COVID bubble, but will increase attendance at AT&T Stadium
The Dallas Cowboys have placed the coaching staff in a COVID-19 bubble while team owner Jerry Jones acknowledges he is personally more susceptible to contracting the virus due to his age.
But Jones, 78, also said Tuesday the organization will continue to increase attendance at AT&T Stadium despite Texas’ standing as the leading state with COVID-19 cases and the overall coronavirus surge around the rest of the country.
Jones said he is proud of how the Cowboys have handled the virus at home games, increasing attendance each week culminating with a new COVID-19 record for crowd size in the Nov. 15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers with 31,700 fans.
Texas leads all states with over 1.06 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and ranks second with more than 20,000 deaths attributed to the virus, according to data that’s being monitored by Johns Hopkins University and shared by CNN.
Jones said the team’s plan for welcoming fans during COVID have been effective.
“My plan was to increase our fans as we went through the season, and we followed that plan,” Jones on his radio show on 105.3 the Fan on Tuesday. “We’ve had almost a third of the attendance in the NFL. I’m proud of that. Our stadium is particularly suited for airiness, openness, air circulation. I’m very proud of the fact that we do it safely, we do it smartly.
“I see a continued aggressive approach to having fans out there. And that’s not being insensitive to the fact that we got our COVID and outbreak. Some people will say it is, but not when you’re doing it as safe as we are and not when we’re having the results we’re having. Literally, we have had no one report that they’ve had gotten any contact with COVID from coming to our football game.”
Jones’ attitude at the stadium is in contrast to how they are handling things at the team’s headquarters at the Star in Frisco.
The Cowboys have instituted more intensive protocols due to the team being exposed to the virus against the Steelers and defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford being placed on the league’s reserve/COVID-19 list.
The Cowboys have also placed the staff in a mini bubble, requiring the coaches to move into the Omni Hotel adjacent to the team’s facility in Frisco, according to sources familiar with the situation.
“We’re going in a more intense way and we’re having our coaches restrict their activities away from the field and restrict their contacts away from the field,” Jones said. “We’re having all staff that touch a player do that. That’s in addition to what the NFL is doing.”
And Jones has changed how he interacts with people himself.
He said he understands his age puts him at a higher risk, and he is conscious of the dangers of COVID-19. He is disciplined about wearing two masks and assumes every one he comes in contact with has coronavirus.
“Don’t let your guard down because tomorrow all of that could change,” Jones said. “And that’s a fact. Don’t let me think for one second we’ve got the key to how to not have this COVID outbreak. We don’t. But the things we’re doing are working here.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 12:01 PM.
