The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise that plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The team plays its home games at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area, which finished construction in time for the 2009 season. The Cowboys joined the NFL as a 1960 expansion team. The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive home sell-outs. The Cowboys' streak of 160 sold-out regular and post-season games began in 1990, and included 79 straight sellouts at their former home, Texas Stadium, and 81 straight sell-outs on the road. The franchise shares the record for most Super Bowl appearances (8) with the Pittsburgh Steelers, corresponding to most NFC championships (8). The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), in which they only missed the playoffs twice (1974 and 1984), a NFL record that remains unchallenged.

Dallas ( /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Divided between Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties, the city had a population of 1,197,816 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.

The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (the DFW MSA) that according to the March 2010 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of 6,371,773. The metroplex economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2010 gross metropolitan product of $374 billion.

Dallas was founded in 1841 and was formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas and a major city in the American South, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.

Antonio Ramiro "Tony" Romo (born April 21, 1980) is a professional American football quarterback in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys. Romo's career passer rating - at 96.9 - ranks second-best all time. Tony Romo didn't play in the regular season in 2003, 2004, or 2005. He replaced the Cowboys' previous starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe during a game against the New York Giants in the 2006 season.

Romo was born in San Diego, California, while his father was serving in the United States Navy. His family returned to its home in Burlington, Wisconsin. Romo's athletic ability was evident even at an early age when he was selected for the Little League All-Star team.

Romo started as quarterback for the Burlington Demons beginning as a junior (1996 season). During his junior season, he led the Demons to a SLC Conference record of 7–2 and the WIAA playoffs. In the 1996 playoffs, Romo and the Demons defeated Greenfield 17-6 before trouncing Badger 41–16. Romo came within one game of the state championship game but fell short in a last-minute 16-15 loss to Cudahy. After the 1996 season, he received Honorable Mention in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-State Team.