Billionaire roll call

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wins 2023 battle of Dallas billionaires, says Forbes

Jerry Jones, front and center.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Cowboys

With a net worth of $13.3 billion, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is not only the wealthiest person in Dallas this year, but the 12th richest sports owner on the planet, too, Forbes says.

According to the 2023 Forbes World’s Billionaires List, released April 4, Jones is the 133rd richest person across the globe. His fortune of $13.3 billion is up from $10.6 billion last year (when he ranked 185th) and $8.9 billion in 2021.

In a separate Forbes report, “World’s Richest Sports Owners 2023,” Jones ranks 12th. Coincidentally, 12 is also the number of games the Cowboys won in the 2022-23 season (having also lost five).

The Cowboys first made Jones a billionaire in 2004, the report reminds. The team is now worth a record $8 billion, (somehow!) more than any other sports franchise on the globe.

Jones’ wealth kicked into the 11-figure range for the first time in June 2022, when Forbes estimated his net worth at $11.3 billion. In the past 10 months, he’s scored another $2 billion.

“The team remains at the center of his universe, but Jones has amped up his real estate and national gas investments, most notably in publicly traded Comstock Resources,” Forbes explains.

Another Texas team owner, Tilman Fertitta of the Houston Rockets, ranks 20th on the list of world's richest sports owners. His net worth in 2023 is $8.1 billion.

"With six years of NBA ownership under his belt, Fertitta is now making a play to join the exclusive ranks of the NFL," Forbes says. "According to the Washington Post, he submitted a bid of $5.5 billion to buy the Washington Commanders from embattled billionaire owner Dan Snyder."

Back to Dallas-Fort Worth ...

Fort Worth's Alice Walton far outpaces Jones as the richest North Texan, according to Forbes. With a net worth of $56.7 billion, Walton (ranked 21st globally) is the third richest woman in the world and the second richest Texan. Austin-basedElon Musk (worth $180 billion) is the richest person in Texas and the second wealthiest in the world.

Other Dallas billionaires who made the 2023 Forbes richest list (including their global ranking and 2023 net worth) are:

Banking and real estate kingpin Andy Beal: No. 170, $10.3 billion
Money manager Ken Fisher: No. 365, $6.7 billion
Hotel and investment titan Robert Rowling: No. 465, $5.6 billion
Oil and real estate titan Ray Lee Hunt: No. 485, $5.6 billion
Oil and gas tycoon Kelcy Warren: No. 552, $4.9 billion
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban: No. 591, $4.6 billion
Margot Birmingham Perot: widow of tech and real estate entrepreneur H. Ross Perot Sr.: No. 624, $4.4 billion
Oil baron W. Herbert Hunt: No. 721, $3.9 billion
Oil and gas guru Trevor Rees-Jones: (tie) No. 748, $3.8 billion
Real estate bigwig H. Ross Perot, Jr.: (tie) No. 748, $3.8 billion

Several Fort Worth-based billionaires made the rankings, too. Find that list here.

Jerry Jones World's Richest Sports Owners rankings sports forbes

Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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