Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, is not the worst day in the history of the Dallas Cowboys under Jerry Jones, but it’s in the discussion.
It’s the day that the Dallas Cowboys looked like that team in Washington, and Jerry like Dan Snyder.
As lurid stories of sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace in sports grew in the last five years, particularly with Snyder’s football team, the Dallas Cowboys remained above all of it.
It was the type of story that reporters kept their eye on for years, speculating something ugly could drop with the Cowboys.
Organizations — and not just those within the sports world — have had to own disturbing truths over the last few years. From the locker room to the trainer’s room to the casting couch to the board room, there is a pattern.
A mistake. A misunderstanding. A “he said, she said.” A lawsuit.
A report from ESPN says the team reached a $2.4 million settlement with four members of its cheerleading squad who alleged that the team’s longtime public relations director Rich Dalrymple filmed them undressing in the dressing room using his cell phone during a 2015 event at AT&T Stadium.
Dalrymple denied all of the allegations, and the report states the organization found no video evidence to support the claims.
Also, the team paid $2.4 million to the four cheerleaders.
Also, Dalrymple recently retired from the organization that he worked for for more than 30 years.
Some of the allegations detailed in this disturbing report are harder to believe than others, notably that Dalrymple used his phone to record an “upskirt” view of team VP Charlotte Jones in the Cowboys’ war room on draft night in 2015.
It was all enough for the Cowboys to pay $2.4 million.
In any suit involving a company as large as the Dallas Cowboys, there is “cost benefit analysis.” There comes a point when it’s better business to end it rather than to fight.
The Dallas Cowboys now join the Washington Commanders as another team humiliated by a scandal involving improper behavior toward women in the workplace, specifically its cheerleaders.
These alleged incidents occurred in 2015, and an internal investigation was “handled.” Dalrymple kept his job, largely unpunished, much to the disappointment of the cheerleaders.
Two weeks ago, Dalrymple quietly announced his retirement from the franchise, with not a single comment from Jones, the team, or the family.
It was odd, but people retire.
He spoke briefly with David Moore of The Dallas Morning News, and said via text to me that he didn’t want to comment because he didn’t want to make it about himself.
A PR director leaving a team isn’t a huge event, so ...
Now timing of it all makes sense. The Cowboys knew this report was coming for a while, and, by retiring, Dalrymple can avoid any of the fallout.
Jerry Jones will eventually make a few contradictory statements, such as taking the allegations seriously, and that the treatment of women in the workplace is a priority.
Then he will say the team conducted an investigation, and found Dalrymple to be innocent.
Which, if true, why pay the $2.4 million?
It’s one thing to just write a “go away” check to end a lawsuit, but this number is awfully high to accomplish that feat.
The Cowboys, like so many organizations in sports and sports media, had a frat house element for decades that would have made most women uncomfortable.
There is an era of men in sports who operated under the same unwritten rules of behavior.
TCU graduate Ally Koonce said, “I interned for the Cowboys once and while most of their employees are great and respectful, the attitude and treatment toward the cheerleaders was often times not.”
There have been no allegations of the Cowboys treating the cheerleaders similarly to the tragic allegations made by members of the Washington cheerleading team, but there are, however, undeniable similarities that invite trouble.
In the particular alleged incident involving Dalrymple, it was not at a Cowboys game, but their kickoff luncheon.
These events that the cheerleaders take part in are done in full costume — which ain’t much — within feet of patrons, who are eating and drinking.
The implied roles are hard to miss. All of it can be uncomfortable, and dated.
Beginning in approximately 2015, most teams made an effort to modernize its office practices, and to mandate professional behavior from men and women.
Reporters who followed the Cowboys have wondered for years when something like this could hit.
Here we are.
