Jerry Jones: We’ll have football, though the world is going to change

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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones offered optimism that sports will return, the NFL will return and America will return, but perhaps to a new normal.

Jones became emotional late Friday night, choking up several times in his answer to a question about COVID-19 and the future.

“As we move forward and we look at the challenges other sports have; to have that opportunity to be a solace, be a respite for fans, as we look forward to it, we will learn,” Jones said. “And we’ll probably have some things that we’ll go forward with that we’ll probably have to pull back on. But we’ll learn. And make no mistake about it, what we’re doing will be a big part of the future of America.

“I loved what one of the guys said when he said, ‘The world changes.’ It just changes. When we landed on the moon it changed the world. Not because landing on the moon, but because of how we got there. We got there with a box called computers. Nobody ever messed with them much in everyday life. After the moon, everybody started messing with them, and it changed the world. It changed us. I think we’re involved in something like that that’s going to change us, and I certainly want our sport and I’d love for the NFL and football – Americans interest, for instance, in our football – I’d love for it to really be a plus. And I think [the draft] was a plus. And I think that yes, we’ll have football. We’ll have it and hopefully the effort and the work we’re trying to do right here will pay off in a few weeks and months where we’re having our fans see real football.”

President Trump recently tabbed Jones, along with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other sports owners and commissioners, to a White House advisory group for restarting the country’s economy.

Jones pointed to the record viewership for the first round of the draft as a sign of the nation’s appetite for the NFL and sports.

“It was able to help when people are hurting at a time that people are wandering and at a time when people don’t have the answers. No one does,” Jones said. “I think the NFL and sports stepped up, and we created a respite. We created a diversion. We created, if you will, some type of ‘business as usual’ approach. There is no question we’re going to get back as a country. There is no question. And when we do, as we always do, we’ll be better than we ever were.”

Jones has spent the draft on his $250 million yacht, vying with Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury for the best draft locale.