This is a popularity contest, plain and simple.
It's not about victories and virtues. The subject of debate is which NFL team most captures the country's fascination.
That's the Dallas Cowboys. That is clear, judging by tangible measures of popularity such as television ratings and franchise values.
You could consider the Cowboys to be the NFL's prom queens. "America's Team" just sounds better.
The Cowboys' popularity probably spiked during their '90s dynasty. However, it's still going strong a decade and a half later despite only one playoff win in the last 14 seasons.
It's been a long time since the Cowboys lifted a Lombardi Trophy, but the "America's Team" crown still fits fine.
Some proof:
1. According to Forbes, the Cowboys are the nation's most valuable sports franchise. The magazine reported the franchise's value to be $1.65 billion, ranking behind only soccer institution Manchester United in the world.
2. According to an NFL release, the most-watched television program of the fall was the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day loss to the New Orleans Saints, which had an audience of 31.9 million viewers. The Cowboys' Dec. 12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles had the highest audience ever for a Sunday night game (25.73 million viewers). And those two games came with the Cowboys, who always get the maximum number of prime-time games allowed by league rules, well out of playoff contention.
3. The Harris Poll determined that the Cowboys were the most popular NFL team among American sports fans the past four years. The Rooney family reportedly declined a version of the "America's Team" nickname when NFL Films wanted to give it to the Steelers in the 1970s. They were proud to be Pittsburgh's team
http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/columns/story?columnist=macmahon_tim&id=6070608
-Alexis Dittmer
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