Cowboys NFL Draft: Come Inside Jerry Jones' Chummy, Crowded 'War Room' - Coronavirus-Style
FRISCO - Bennett Glazer is the Executive Vice Chairman of Southern Glazer’s, the largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States. He is a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, best pals with Roger Staubach (people say they look alike) and pals, too, with Cowboys COO Stephen Jones.
Pat Obenshain is a long-time restauranteur in Las Colinas. He is a Dallas Cowboys fan who got to know the Joneses due to the proximity of his place to the team's old Valley Ranch headquarters and provided catering to the team - and the occasional Johnny Walker Blue to barroom visitor Jerry Jones.
Both Glazer and Obenshain are kings in the food-and-beverage industry, both are great storytellers and bon vivants, as befits their craft, and both are cut from loyal friends-for-life cloth.
Cliff Harris, Roger Staubach, Bennett Glazer and Lee Roy Jordan
Oh, and over the years, when you've watched the Cowboys and the NFL Draft on TV, you've maybe seen the likes of both Bennett Glazer and Pat Obenshain lurking in the background, quietly having a big ol' time in the War Room.
Restauranteur Pat Obenshain
"For me, it was just once,'' Obenshain says. "In 2011, we were catering and Jerry is going through the buffet line, sees me and says, 'Hey, you wanna come into the War Room with me?''
Says Glazer: "The first time I was invited in, in 2013, and started watching all these amazing things getting done, I turned to Stephen and asked, 'Are you sure it's OK that I'm in here? Do I need to sign some sort of non-disclosure agreement?''
"No way!'' Stephen replied. "You're family!''
Obenshain, like Glazer (and really, like the rest of us who've gotten to know Jerry), has a million Jones tales over the years, including the time Obenshain placed a table, a telephone and a glass of wine in the middle of his restaurant's dance floor for Jerry's use.
But the War Room visit?
"Just once,'' Pat says. "I wanted to do it once. Just to say I did it.''
We noted in this space two weeks ago that Las Vegas was itself planning on being a "ghost town,'' triggered by the fact that one large firm in control of 7,000 hotel rooms had, for the coming week, filled just 400 of them.
That was a sign, to the city, its industries ... and the NFL.
It is, therefore, no surprise that given the COVID-19 outbreak, the league plans to proceed with the 2020 NFL Draft - but in an insulated manner.
A half-a-million fans crowding The Strip? Idiotic. Draftees present in a ballroom? We can't really justify that, either.
As we less than a month until the draft, it is time for a plan, and here it is: The league is planning on using a remote studio setting for the 2020 NFL Draft.
Television. Radio. Online. This is a no-brainer. The NFL Draft headquarters can simply be a TV studio. Not only do the crowds not need to show up - we'll argue even the teams don't need to show up.
Drafted kids exchanging celebratory hugs on a stage with commissioner Roger Goodell? Why needs it? Who wants to be within six feet or a hug of a stranger?
We suggested two weeks ago that the NFL can simply Skype or Zoom its way into the draftees' living rooms. Technology allows us to "be there'' in the homes of top draftees.
Think about it: You want drama? You get QUARANTINED families.
That's drama.
Will McClay and members of the Jones family
It's also dramatic to be present in the Dallas Cowboys War Room at The Star in Frisco. Over the years, winners of the Texas Lottery (a proud Cowboys sponsorship partner) have been allowed to tour through the War Room.
Because the Cowboys are a "family business,'' there is also the semi-understandable crowd of daughter and son and nephews and nieces and brothers-of-the-wives-of-the-sons in suits and ties, well-aware of the possibility that the national-TV camera might catch them appearing to be helping to deliberate whether Dallas should use that precious No. 4 overall pick to select Jalen Ramsey or Ezekiel Elliott.
Jerry Jones at the Big Board
A few years ago, our colleague Peter King described it for Sports Illustrated thusly:
In the Cowboys’ draft room, support staff and scouts and coaches ring three-quarters of a large rectangular table. At the head of the table sits, from left to right, mostly a family affair: vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones (who mans the phone for most trade discussions); Jerry Jones; executive vice president Charlotte Jones Anderson (Jerry’s daughter); coach Jason Garrett; and just around the corner of the table, executive vice president of sales and marketing Jerry Jones Jr. Stephen Jones is at the nerve center, with direct lines to 31 NFL teams on the phone console in front of him.
Glazer adds: "Certainly at Valley Ranch, it was scouts on one side, coaches on the other side, and all together, just unbelievable how they break it all down, and how quickly they have to do it.''
Remember the 2018 NFL Draft, when the Cowboys selected Michael Gallup and after doing so handed the War Room phone to a greeter?
"All I could say was, 'Yes, yes. yes','' Gallup responded when asked to comment on Texas Governor Greg Abbott being the one who informed him of his destiny.
Glazer was also in the room that day. He knew well in advance of Dallas' admiration for Texas offensive lineman Connor Williams (who became the second-round pick and is now the starting left guard) and for Colorado State receiver Gallup (a third-rounder and a starter.)
"That year, I got to The Star early so they sat me down in a meeting room where Gallup was discussed,'' says Glazer, who has found himself inside the War Room a few times over the years. "The Jones boys, (personnel boss) Will McClay, the coordinators and the receivers coach - and me. They handed me a sheet of paper (the Gallup scouting report) so I could follow along.
"At some point,'' Glazer says playfully, "they asked me my opinion on Gallup. It was hysterical. I like to amuse myself by pretending I had something to do with it!''
Bennett Glazer in the Cowboys War Room
It is chummy. It is crowded. It is, now, probably against not only the rules handed down by the CDC but also against the rules just handed down by Goodell.
Goodell recently authored a memo sent to teams regarding "war rooms'' that reads in part, teams “should be doing the necessary planning to conduct Draft operations in a location outside of your facility, with a limited number of people present, and with sufficient technology resources to. ... communicate with other clubs and Draft headquarters.”
Meaning that owner Jerry Jones this year will not only have to thin out the herd of buddies and even family members who find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder and on-camera (SI's Albert Breer writes here about the "skeleton'' crews NFL teams might be forced to use) - the Cowboys might not even be able to headquarter at The Star?
James D. Smith/Dallas Cowboys via SI
That latter concept makes no sense. But the former?
"Totally understandable,'' Glazer says. "I've never wanted to wear out my welcome - which is especially true now.''
In the end, starved as we all are for sports and entertainment in any form, this figures to be the most-watched NFL Draft in league history, and, we'll bet, one of the most-watched sporting events of all time of any kind.
And, at the same time, the least-attended sporting event of all time, too. Not just on the streets of Las Vegas, but also in the War Room at The Star.
