A New State of the Art Texas Stadium

A “New State of the Art Texas Stadium” for the Cowboys in 2009

By JWL

The Dallas Cowboys are “America’s Team”. They are known the world over as a great National Football League franchise and as the team that is cheered on by “America’s Sweethearts”, the world famous Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. For over 30 years, Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, has been home to both the football team and the cheerleaders. All that will change at the start of the 2009 season when the team takes to the field at Dallas Cowboys New Stadium.

In their 40 plus years since joining the NFL as an expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys have had two homes: the Cotton Bowl and Texas Stadium. The Cowboys got their start at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. After a number of years of playing at the Cotton Bowl the team longed for a state of the art stadium they could call their own. Their wish came true as construction on Texas Stadium (simply named for the state of Texas) began in the late 1960s. The stadium was unique for its time and remains so to this day. It is partially domed, allowing fans to be covered while at the same time exposing the football field to nature’s elements. Two tiers, of over 65,000 blue seats, extend around the field. Initially it was planned that the stadium would be fully domed. It was, however, discovered that the stadium could not support the weight of the entire roof and before the roof structure could be modified public funding ran out. Leaving well enough alone, in 1971 the Dallas Cowboys became the proud owners of a partially domed stadium. Texas Stadium has been the sight of some great Cowboys football and has served the team well for the past thirty-six years. There will no doubt be some regret when the team moves to its new home.

New Stadium is the working name for the Dallas Cowboys stadium that is under construction in Arlington, Texas, and due to open prior to the 2009 NFL season. Designed by Dallas-based architectural firm HKS, the new stadium will have a capacity of 80,000 with the future possibility of expansion for 100,000.

The road to the new stadium has been long and winding and with it’s fair share of roadblocks. In 1994 Jones made it known that he wanted to expand Texas Stadium by 40,000 seats, add a retractable roof panel, and climate control to make the stadium a year round venue for sporting events, concerts, conventions and hopefully some day the Super Bowl. By the end of the nineties the Cowboys had discussed a $260 million upgrade to Texas Stadium as well as holding talks with the City of Arlington about building a new stadium. In 2000, the team compiled a list of possible sights for a new stadium while negotiations continued with Irving to renovate Texas Stadium.

Over the next few years’ talks continued with various cities in the Dallas area and with the city of Dallas itself. The Cowboys asked the City of Irving to extend their lease at Texas Stadium on a year-to-year basis (the Cowboys lease expirees at the end of the 2008 season). In April 2004 the team announced plans to build a $650 million stadium at Fair Park in Dallas ($425 million of which would come from public funding). The deal fell apart two months later when it was determined by Dallas County commissioners that they could not justify asking voters to approve the $425 million in public funding. One month later the Cowboys announced that they were in negotiations with the City of Arlington. By August of 2004 Arlington City Council agreed to put a vote before taxpayers for a tax increase to fund the $325 million public funding portion of the project. On November 2 taxpayers approved the tax increase and the future home of the Cowboys was settled.

In 2005, the final site for the stadium in Arlington was chosen and in 2006 the Cowboys hired their general contractor. Excavation at the site began and in December 2006 the in depth plans and the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones revealed designs of the stadium to the public.

The original cost of the stadium was estimated at $650 million. Today the estimated cost is in excess of $1 billion potentially making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever to be built.

New Stadium will feature an arch (almost 300 feet in height), anchored at each end, which will span the length of the stadium dome. In a fitting tribute to their old home, New Stadium will have an identical hole in the roof. The hole will have the option of being covered with a retractable roof should there be rain or unbearable heat conditions. There will also be doors at each end of the structure allowing the end zones to be opened. The final name of New Stadium is unknown. It’s possible that the stadium will follow the trend of other sports venues by sell the naming rights to a large corporation. In all likelihood, New Stadium will be used by other organizations for sporting and non-sporting events, including college football. It has already been determined that the AT&T Cotton Bowl will move to the new stadium for 2010.

The Cotton Bowl and more significantly Texas Stadium have played an integral part in Dallas Cowboys history. As the excitement mounts for the opening of New Stadium there will be some sadness, too, as the Cowboys leave Texas Stadium, the structure they have called home for the past thirty-six years. New Stadium will no doubt be the sight of more incredible Cowboys football and take its rightful place in Dallas Cowboys history.