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One Big Home For The Boys
Accommodation has become the name of the game as the new sports economics changes everything from the size of stadiums to the demographics of the crowd.
On March 10, 2008, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, joined by officials and coaches from Texas A&M University and the University of Arkansas (Jones’ alma mater), announced that the two schools would renew their rivalry with annual games at the stadium, beginning October 3, 2009. In addition, the Cotton Bowl will be moved to the stadium once it opens.
Originally estimated to cost $650 million, the stadium’s current construction cost was $1.15 billion, making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever built.
To paraphrase Le Corbusier’s maxim about modern houses as “machines for living,” modern stadiums have become machines for playing, part of a year-round, nonstop popular entertainment whirl in which a football game is just one option among many.
“Our main competition is the home media center,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in unveiling the stadium design in 2006. “We wanted to offer a real experience that you can’t have at home, but to see it with the technology that you do have at home.”
The upper concourses, on the other hand, provide plenty of maneuvering room along with panoramic views of the sprawling suburban landscape. Those on the lower levels seem more cramped, like obstacle courses, especially around the VIP lounges, where millionaires shake hands with billionaires and Joe Fan has to detour around them to get where he wants to go.
The stadium is easily the best of the current crop: more open and accessible than the Arizona Cardinals’ home in Phoenix, more rational than the hapless renovation of Soldier Field in Chicago and more immediately engaging than Trubey’s new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts, which has some of the dour industrial qualities of the oil company it’s named for.
Measuring 160 feet wide and 72 feet tall (11,520 sq. feet), the high-definition television screen at Cowboys Stadium is the world’s largest.
Neven Middlesby has been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys for over thirty years. He maintains a blog that is about the dallas cowboy stadium and will be at every game the Cowboys play. He will blog about each game at the newdallas cowboy stadium.
Tags: cowboys, dallas, education, football, NFL 2009, Season, Sports, Stadiums
