Homefield advantage wasn’t exactly noticeable in the Dallas Cowboys’ 2024 home opener.
Every time a New Orleans Saints player found the end zone in a 44-19 Week 2 win, “Who Dat?” chants rained down from the stands at AT&T Stadium. Black and gold jerseys also overpowered the white and blue that is typically seen in North Texas.
As the Cowboys look to regroup from the stumble, could they expect another takeover of their home stadium? Led by reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, the Baltimore Ravens are one of the NFL’s most popular teams.
Jerry Jones said the idea of another “invasion” doesn’t make him nervous.
“I know that there’s a lot of tickets being sold to Raven fans and you can tell that by the, frankly, the activity in the off-market, which is not your season ticketholder. It could be season ticketholders just selling those tickets for this game,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM). “The facts are, I fully expected this one to come. I had this one circled as a real substantive game for everybody concerned with fans at the top of the list.”
The Cowboys had a dominant streak going at their home stadium, winning 16 straight regular-season games before their Week 2 loss to New Orleans. Counting a disappointing playoff loss to Green Bay in January, Dallas has yet to find its footing in front of a North Texas crowd.
While Stephen Jones said he doesn’t love the idea of away fans showing up in force, he understands why it happens. He attributed the strong Saints presence to various factors, including D-FW’s proximity to Louisiana.
“Obviously we’d prefer to have everybody sitting in that seat a Cowboys fan, but we’re certainly the beneficiary of that on the road most of the time in terms of having large percentages of Cowboys fans in opposing team’s stadiums,” Stephen Jones said. “So, I understand it. Every now and then you’re going to have these teams that hadn’t been to AT&T much, they want to experience North Texas and what AT&T Stadium’s about. But if we had our preference, honestly, no, I’d like 100% of them to be Cowboys fans. But I also know that can be unrealistic.”
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