Cowboys Get Bank Backing, Report Says

Officials of the Dallas Cowboys have turned to a bank for help in financing the team’s enterprises, a published report says.

Today’s Dallas Times Herald quotes sources who say that Cowboys officials will announce Friday that First City, Texas-Dallas, the lead Dallas bank of Houston-based First City Bancorporation of Texas, will provide multimillion-dollar financing for the team and Texas Stadium Corp.

First City will be “the bank of the Cowboys,” team spokesman Greg Aiello told the newspaper. He said bank and team officials will provide further details of First City’s relationship with the Cowboys at a Friday press conference.

Seek Financing

Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, to expedite the team’s sale in April, reportedly wrote a check for the entire purchase price and said he would seek financing.

Although First City officials would not confirm or deny the financing package’s completion, a bank source told the newspaper that Jones had negotiated three loans with the institution, totaling in the “upper eight figures.”

Jones headed an investment team that spent $140 million for the team and other assets from H. R. (Bum) Bright, who acquired the Cowboys in 1984 with financing provided largely by Dallas-based RepublicBank Corp.

$60 Million for Club

The package the Jones team acquired included $60 million for the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Ltd., $65 million for Texas Stadium Corp. and assumption of $15 million to $20 million in debt on the Cowboys’ Valley Ranch headquarters and deferred player compensation.

The new Cowboys’ owner announced the purchase in February. Jones was on a speaking engagement away from his Valley Ranch office Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

With his partners, Jones bought a 100% interest in Texas Stadium Corp. and received 63% of the team.

Officials said the remaining 37% of the team is in the portfolios of three of Bright’s partners. They are Ed Smith Jr., a Houston investor with a 27% stake; Arthur Temple of Diboll, chairman of Temple-Inland Co., with 5%, and Amelia Hodges of Dallas, 5%.