A win is a win.

That’s the message Jerry Jones is trying to convey to the media swarming around him in the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room.

It’s November, and his first-place NFL football franchise has just defeated the lowly Washington Redskins 7-6, scoring the game’s sole touchdown on a 10-yard pass with 2:41 left to play.

Jones didn’t throw the ball, catch the pass, or call the play. He hasn’t strapped on football gear in 45 years.

Yet, he’s about to hold court.

“It’s a real, real statement for this team to have won this football game,” said Jones, shifting effortlessly into the babble typically reserved for star players and coaches in post-game press conferences.

In any other locker room, the owner would have been way out of place. But the players don’t seem to notice, and the coaches don’t protest.

This 67-year-old owner is in his natural position. In the spotlight, in his suite, on the sideline, and in the locker room—every aspect of the Cowboys’ business is Jerry Jones’ business.

Ultimately, Jones can’t control whether the team wins or loses on the field, but he can make it into an efficient moneymaking machine—and he has, in every way imaginable. From his innovative approach to marketing the team to the one-of-a-kind fan experience he created with the opening of Cowboys Stadium at the start of this season, Jones’ impact on the NFL cannot be overstated. And, after more than 20 years in North Texas, during which time he has been a leading supporter of the Salvation Army, his impact on the region extends well beyond his team. That’s why the Dallas Business Journal has picked him as our Executive of the Year for 2010.

The Dallas Cowboys’ $1.2 billion stadium will help the football club add more than $360 million to the company’s top line for the 2009 season. But, regardless of the arena, Jones has built the iconic Dallas Cowboys into a lucrative and seemingly recession-resistant business that’s standing strong in the face of the worst recession since he bought the team.

The team sold all the suites in the new stadium, albeit some on a single-game basis. The recession’s biggest impact on the football club is that, as of mid-December, it hadn’t sold naming rights for the venue.

Still, the Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable franchise in the National Football League, and neck and neck with Britain’s Manchester United soccer club for being the most valuable sports business on the planet.

Jones was a millionaire when he bought the Cowboys. Rebuilding the team made him a billionaire and enabled him to create a billion-dollar arena for the team (with a little help from the people in Arlington).

A Maverick From the Start

The most hands-on owner in the NFL first became known as the rich Arkansas oilman who bought the Dallas Cowboys and immediately fired its beloved head coach to hire his college teammate.

At the same time he was bringing change to the Dallas Cowboys he also was bringing change to the National Football League.

“No one handed us an operating manual,” Jones said, referring to how his team should be run.

Visiting with other owners, Jones could get a sense of how other teams were doing it. But, even 20 years later, he marvels more at the things they weren’t doing at the time.

“You couldn’t find a team that was involved in stadiums,” Jones recalls. And few teams did anything special with their brands.