Fansided

Jason Kelce calls out Dallas Cowboys fans with some aggressive comments

By Matthew Razzano

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 02: Dallas Cowboys fans cheer against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium on October 02, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 02: Dallas Cowboys fans cheer against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium on October 02, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Jason Kelce is leaning all the way into Philly Pride and called out Dallas Cowboys fans for being corporate fans ahead of Sunday Night’s showdown. 

Any divisional rivalry game is going to prompt some trash-talking. NFL rivalries as storied as the Cowboys-Eagles

The Eagles’ four-time Pro Bowl center, Jason Kelce, not known for being shy or afraid to stir the pot, added some fuel to this rivalry, having this to say about Cowboys fans.

“Two polar opposites. Philly’s an extremely localized diehard fanbase that’s authentic to all of them growing up together in this community,” Kelce told 94WIP before pile-driving Cowboys fans even further. “Most of the Cowboys fanbase is built on commercialism & pop culture, Laker, Yankee type fans.”

On one level, Kelce is exactly right.

The Philadelphia Eagles fanbase is housed primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region. It touches Central PA, South Jersey, and most of Delaware. But beyond that, only sporadic Eagles fans and transplants exist throughout the rest of the country.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, have one of the most geographically diverse fanbases in all of sports. No matter where you go, no matter where you live, everyone knows Cowboys fans. At the Cowboys-Rams game earlier this season, SoFi stadium nearly became a home game for Dallas. They’ve proudly worn the badge “America’s Team” since NFL Films used it as the title for the 1978 Cowboys highlight tape—likely because Roger Staubach’s nickname was “Captain America.”

Was Jason Kelce’s comments about Cowboys fans out of line?

Kelce is also not wrong about the commercialism point—a fact Jerry Jones is surely proud of. Forbes perennially lists the Cowboys as the most valuable franchise in the NFL. Their operating income of $465m is double that of second place New England Patriots ($230m), with the Cowboys almost always leading the league in merchandise sales.

But Kelce wasn’t merely commenting on the business of football, or trying to factually describe the fanbases. What he’s trying to convey is that one group is loyal. The other is not. One set of fans inherited a team like a family heirloom. The other arbitrarily selected a flashy brand. While Kelce’s comments might rile up some resentful Cowboys fans, it’s more likely they’ll be used as a rallying call to Eagles fans—words like “community” and “authentic” being music to their ears.

Regardless of what happens Sunday night, this rivalry will remain one of the most intense in sports, in large part because of these diametrically opposed fanbases who each think they have a monopoly on the real spirit of the game.

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