Saturday, June 19, 2010

The New Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium



The Dallas Cowboys New Stadium is due to open at the start of the 2009 NFL season. It will surely be one of the most impressive stadiums in world sport, seating 80,000 fans. There is an option to increase this to 100,000 in certain situations.

Although the estimated expense of the project has been way exceeded, the city has agreed to higher taxes in order to meet the extra expense, and the NFL will also be providing money as part of its policy of helping with the funding of new stadia. The stadium will also host other sporting events, including the Super Bowl in the year 2011, and the AT&T Cotton Bowl will also move to the stadium as soon as it opens.

The quest for a new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys really started back in 1994 when Jerry Jones, the franchise's owner, announced that he wanted to expand Texas stadium. The idea was to add an extra 40,000 seats, and also make the stadium an all year venue by adding a roof and air conditioning system. This would allow the stadium to be used for other events to defray expenses.

Three years after that, the Cowboys started to look at the possibility of moving to a new stadium somewhere else in the State, although the possibility of expanding Texas Stadium was still being mooted as the likely possibility.

The Dallas Cowboys New Stadium was becoming a serious possibility around the turn of the century. Although negotiations were continuing with Irving, where Texas Stadium is situated, it began to look ever more likely that the team would be on the move. At this point, serious discussions were taking place with many different cities in Texas, including Irvine itself, with the idea of finding a new location for Jones's multi purpose stadium.

Finally, following the falling apart of a deal between the Cowboys and Dallas County over finance, a deal was struck between the Cowboys and Arlington. Arlington will agree to the tax raises necessary to fund the project. The actual buying of properties to be demolished started in 2005, and work is ongoing.

Although the expenses have gone way over the original estimates, there is no doubt that the project will be completed, and the opening will happen on the scheduled date. Work began in June of 2007 on the retractable roof, which will allow for events of different types to be staged at all times of the year.

The revenue from business conventions and concerts will be needed to help pay the bills on what has been a hugely expensive project. At the start of the 2009 season, work will have been completed, and the franchise will be ready to move into the Dallas Cowboys New Stadium.