Cowboys’ new digs are Cotton Bowl’s Xanadu, too
The New York Times took a ride around the Dallas Cowboys’ opulent new digs with proud papa Jerry Jones this week, and focused specifically on the gargantuan palace’s impact on the pro scene. (The Jets and Giants are teaming to build an even more expensive stadium set to open next year, though of course it will be significantly smaller than its outsized Texas counterpart.) All of the selling points Jones emphasized to the Grey Lady, though, could have come directly from the strategic plan of one of the park’s initial tenants, the Cotton Bowl:
"I could have built this for $850 million," [Jones] said. "And it would have been a fabulous place to play football. But this was such an opportunity for the ‘wow factor.’"
He wants his stadium to shout media and scream that the future of watching football is in his building. The video screens, nestled between the 20-yard lines, tower above the field and will carry the Cowboys’ own game feed from eight live cameras.
"That’s why I spent the money," Jones, 66, said. "It has a chance to be one of the most visible buildings in this country."
At three million square feet, the stadium designed by Bryan Trubey of Dallas-based HKS Architects is three times as large as the Cowboys’ old home, Texas Stadium, in nearby Irving, and twice the size of the new Yankee Stadium. With a price tag of $1.12 billion, it is the N.F.L.’s priciest building …
The Cotton Bowl could have stayed in the actual Cotton Bowl downtown, which after all underwent a $57 million upgrade to remain relevant last year, much of that taxpayer dollars from the city, and managed to keep the Red River Shootout through 2015. But the bowl game officially moved its headquarters to the Arlington stadium last week because it desperately needed the "wow factor" of college football’s priciest, most lavish edifice in its transparent bid to become the fifth site in the BCS:
Unlike the halls, which are full of those orange boxes, the office of Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker seems to be complete. He, like the eight other full-time employees who also have offices, are eager to get the ball rolling and do what needs to be done to get this game in the BCS mix.
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"We are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to get consideration for the BCS," Baker said. "This stadium is a difference-maker. I think once people see how incredible this facility is, I truly believe that we’ll be given consideration if they decide to tweak the system."I think the folks that lead the BCS are very protective of the championship game, and want to see the best facilities for the best games. I think it can only help us that we will have been up and running with so much going on here. The BCS leaders will have a comfort level that this facility is not only a beautiful facility, but is also very functional for both players and fans."
The earliest that could possibly happen is the 2014 season, after the expiration of the Series’ recently inked deal with ESPN. By then, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Cowboys’ stadium will have hosted three Cotton Bowls, a Super Bowl, an NBA All-Star Game, a Final Four and five Cowboys regular seasons. (It only seems like the place is big enough to host all of those things at once.) It will be a known commodity, and still new enough to be the most imposing, impressive venue in the rotation. Obviously the Cotton Bowl itself is a known commodity, and increased its television audience by more than 25 percent last year over 2007. By 2015, the playoff push may have made enough headway to demand an extra BCS venue or two, either to placate more teams with a share of the pie or as a host site in a bracket. If the Cotton’s not part of the system by then, that campaign (as they say in Arlington) is probably as good as fin.
