Why the Dallas Cowboys are called America's Team

Love them or hate them, the Dallas Cowboys are the most popular team in the NFL. Sorry, haters, those are just facts.

They're consistently the most-watched team in the league year in and year out, undoubtedly due to the fact that not only do their fans tune in to see them win, but millions upon millions tune in to watch them lose. Dallas is a lot like the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Lakers in that way.

The Cowboys are also the most valuable team in the NFL by a considerable margin. Valued at roughly $11 billion, they've got about a three-billion-dollar edge on the second-place Los Angeles Rams.

Then there's the matter of the franchise's long-running nickname: America's Team. Now, the Cowboys certainly aren't the only NFL team with a nickname, but theirs is certainly the most popular. And perhaps the most divisive, as many feel they don't deserve it. There are also plenty of people who think they gave it to themselves. But that's simply not true.

So, exactly how and when did the Dallas Cowboys become America's Team?

The Dallas Cowboys did not give themselves the "America's Team" nickname

It's no secret that the Dallas Cowboys didn't have much success when they first joined the NFL in 1960. They went winless in their first-ever season, going 0-11-1, and didn't have their first winning record until their seventh season in 1966, going 10-3-1.

They went to the NFL Championship Game that season, losing to the Green Bay Packers, who went on to win the very first Super Bowl. Dallas again made the NFL title game the following season, again losing to the Packers, who again went on to win the Super Bowl.

Over the next 11 seasons, Tom Landry & Co. made the playoffs 10 times and represented the NFC in the Super Bowl on five occasions, winning twice. And it was following that second Super Bowl win that the America's Team moniker was bestowed upon the franchise.

Again, contrary to popular opinion, the Cowboys did not give this nickname to themselves. So, who did?

That would be Bob Ryan, who was then an employee at NFL Films and later became the company's Vice President and editor-in-chief. Following the 1978 season, at the end of which Dallas lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, Ryan was putting together the team's highlight reel and noticed a lot of people wearing Dallas gear in opposing stadiums.

Needing some extra narration for the commentary, the name just came to him, as he later expressed in an interview.

""I saw all these fans in away stadiums. "Hey, they're the most popular team in the country. How can I use that? Why don't we call them America's Team?""

- Bob Ryan, NFL Films

During the Cowboys' 1979 season opener against the then-St. Louis Cardinals, legendary broadcaster Pat Summerall, who was calling the game for CBS, referred to Dallas as America's Team, and, for better or worse, it's been a thing ever since.

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