The Dallas Cowboys – ‘America’s Team’ and the world’s most valuable sporting franchise – will head into a landmark NFL season as one of the biggest underachievers in sport.

The five-time Super Bowl champions enter their 30th season since they last lifted the Lombardi Trophy, having not had a sniff of success in the previous 29.

The team’s controversial and charismatic owner Jerry Jones is the star of the latest Netflix documentary ‘America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys’ which documents Dallas’ success in the 1990s.

In truth, the Cowboys have been a sporting soap opera ever since Jones bought the team in 1989 – just the way he likes it.

And that is part of the fascination with this American institution – that feeling of style over substance, that all publicity is good publicity and actually winning is optional.

As long as the Dallas Cowboys are headline news then it seems the 82-year-old owner is happy.

To understand the size of the fall you have to understand how big Dallas became under Jones during their Super Bowl years in the 1990s.

They were already big – with the ‘America’s Team’ moniker coined in 1978 because of their popularity across the country, regular appearances in national TV games and playing in five Super Bowls, winning two.

Jones bought the team in February 1989, and one day later sacked legendary Tom Landry, who had been the franchise’s only head coach since inception in 1960.

That was a statement of intent.

Jones hired college football coach Jimmy Johnson and with the legendary trio of quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and receiver Michael Irvin – known as The Triplets – they became almost unbeatable.

Dallas won three Super Bowls in four years between 1992 and 1995, with Jones even parting ways with Johnson and bringing in a new head coach in Barry Switzer for their third Lombardi Trophy of that spell.

The Jones-Johnson falling-out came from the coach feeling the owner was getting too involved in football matters – and that is something Jones continues to be known for to this day.

Having one of the best offensive trios of all time, the Johnson sacking and several off-field controversies involving players made the Cowboys as notorious as they were successful.

And it seems Jones acquired a taste for controversy – a love of seeing his team in the headlines, for good or bad reasons.

Jones lifted the lid on his priorities at the premiere of his Netflix show on a blue-carpet event in Los Angeles, even saying that he plays his part in seeking out the headlines.

“The Cowboys are a soap opera 365 days a year – when it gets slow, I’ll stir it up,” Jones told reporters.

“I do believe if we’re not being looked at, then I’ll do my part to get us looked at.

“Oh it’s wonderful to have the great athletes, the great players, but there’s something more there, there’s sizzle, there’s emotion and if you will there’s controversy. That controversy is good stuff in terms of keeping and having people’s attention.”

So while there has been a distinct lack of success, off the field the Cowboys have topped Forbes’ most valuable franchise list, external for nine years running since 2016.

Every year they are the big story, despite winning just five play-off games since their last Super Bowl three decades ago.

The Cowboys have only made the play-offs in 13 of the past 29 seasons, going 5-13 when they do, and not even making it to one NFC Championship – the game before the Super Bowl.

So in football terms they are an afterthought, an also-ran, but off the field they are a behemoth of marketing, revenue, glitz, glamour and headlines – even their cheerleaders have their own long-running reality TV show.

The stadium is packed out year after year, the money keeps rolling in and the Cowboys remain the centre of attention – but on the field futility reigns.

How long can it possibly continue?

So then, on to the 30th season since the last Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl, and there is a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer – his first time in the top job but with more than 25 years of NFL coaching experience and a fine family pedigree.

But even before coaching in his first regular season game there is a summer controversy to deal with as defensive star Micah Parsons, arguably the team’s best player, has requested a trade.

In a social media post, external Parsons pointed the finger at Jones and the team’s hierarchy for their handling of talks over a new contract – and highlighted previous problems with star quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

Both players finally signed big-money deals, but only after Jones pushed negotiations to the limit – with again many believing his penchant for the dramatic means taking talks down to the wire before the start of the season to squeeze out more column inches.

That strategy has not seemed to go down well with the players though, who have a tough enough job playing for the Dallas Cowboys as it is – being the most scrutinised squad in American sport.

After a 7-10 record last year, Dallas now have a first-year head coach, a disgruntled star player and a tough division that will not make success easy.

The Cowboys have to face defending Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles and the vastly improved Washington Commanders, who faced Philly in the NFC title game, twice each.

In 2024 the Cowboys were below average on offence and even worse on defence – ranking sixth-worst in yards-per-game allowed and conceding the second-most points in the NFL.

So the odds look stacked against them celebrating the 30th anniversary of their last Super Bowl with a serious challenge for another, but there is no shortage of drama or controversy – the “good stuff” as Jones calls it.

As long as America’s Team are in the news, that seems to do just nicely.