Texas Stadium

Texas Stadium was an American football stadium located in Irving, Texas, a suburb west of Dallas. Opened in October 1971,[2] it was known for its distinctive hole in the roof, the result of abandoned plans to construct a retractable roof (Cowboys linebacker D. D. Lewis once famously said that "Texas Stadium has a hole in its roof, so God can watch His favorite team play").

Texas Stadium

Texas Stadium in November 2008
Location	2401 East Airport Freeway Irving, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates	32.840°N 96.911°W / 32.840; -96.911
Owner	City of Irving
Operator	Texas Stadium Corp[1]
Capacity	65,675
Surface	Artificial turf - Texas Turf (1971–1995) - AstroTurf (1996–2002) - RealGrass (2003–2008)
Construction
Broke ground	January 26, 1969 (1969-01-26)[1]
Opened	October 24, 1971[2][3]
Closed	December 25, 2008
Demolished	April 11, 2010 (2010-04-11)
Construction cost	US$35 million ($221 million in 2019 dollars[4])
Architect	A. Warren Morey
General contractor	JW Bateson Co., Inc.
Tenants
Dallas Cowboys (NFL) (1971–2008) Dallas Tornado (NASL) (1972–1975, 1980–1981) SMU Mustangs (NCAA) (1979–1986)

Texas Stadium

Location in the United States

The stadium was the home field of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys for 38 seasons, through 2008, and had a seating capacity of 65,675. In 2009, the Cowboys moved to AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington.[5]

Texas Stadium was demolished April 11, 2010 by a controlled implosion.

History

The Cowboys had played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas since their inception in 1960. However, by the mid-1960s, founding owner Clint Murchison, Jr. felt that the Fair Park area of the city had become unsafe and downtrodden, and did not want his season ticket holders to be forced to go through it.[6] Murchison was denied a request by mayor Erik Jonsson to build a new stadium in downtown Dallas as part of a municipal bond package.[7]

Murchison envisioned a new stadium with sky boxes and one in which attendees would have to pay a personal seat license as a prerequisite to purchasing season tickets.[8] With two games left for the Cowboys to play in the 1967 season, Murchison and Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm announced a plan to build a new stadium in the northwest suburb of Irving.[8]

Texas Stadium, along with Arrowhead Stadium (1972), Rich Stadium (1973), and the Pontiac Silverdome (1975), were part of a new wave of football-only stadiums (all with artificial turf) built after the AFL–NFL merger. More so than its contemporaries, Texas Stadium featured a proliferation of luxury boxes, which provided the team with a large new income source exempt from league revenue sharing.

It hosted its first game on October 24, 1971, a 44–21 victory over the New England Patriots,[2][3] and became an icon of the Cowboys with their rise in national prominence. The Cowboys entered the season as defending NFC champions and won their first world title in Super Bowl VI in January 1972. The field was surrounded by a blue wall emblazoned with white stars, a design replicated in its successor, AT&T Stadium.

Texas Stadium's field alignment (between the goal posts) was southwest-to-northeast, perpendicular to the Cotton Bowl, which is southeast-to-northwest.

Roof

The most distinctive element of Texas Stadium was its partial roof, the only one in the NFL. The roof was originally supposed to be the first retractable roof in the NFL. However, it was discovered that the structure could not support the additional weight. This resulted in a partial roof that covered most of the stands but not the playing field itself.

The open roof allowed snow to cover the field in the Thanksgiving Day game against the Miami Dolphins in 1993. The unusual roof also introduced a unique difficulty in televising games, as sunlight would cover part of the field and make it hard for TV cameras to adjust for the changes in light.[9]

The roof was repainted in the summer of 2006 by the city of Irving, the stadium's owners. It was the first time the roof had been repainted since Texas Stadium opened.

Other events

Football

The stadium hosted neutral-site college football games and was the home field of the SMU Mustangs for eight seasons, from 1979 through 1986. After the school returned from an NCAA-imposed suspension in 1988, school officials moved games back to the school's on-campus Ownby Stadium to signify a clean start for the football program (since replaced by Gerald J. Ford Stadium in 2000). The 2001 Big 12 Championship Game was held at the site.

The 1973 Pro Bowl was held at Texas Stadium in front of 47,879 spectators.

In November and December, Texas Stadium was a major venue for high school football. It was not uncommon for there to be high school football tripleheaders at the stadium. Texas Stadium served as a temporary home for two Dallas-area high schools, Plano Senior High School in 1979 after its home stadium was damaged by a prank gone awry, and Highland Park High School while a new stadium on campus was being built.

The stadium has also played host to the two largest capacity crowds for Texas high school football playoff games. In 1977, Plano defeated Port Neches-Groves 13-10 in front of a record crowd of 49,953. In 2006, the long-awaited mythical matchup between Trinity High School from Euless, and Carroll Senior High School from Southlake, in the second round of the playoffs, ending in a scintillating 22-21 Southlake victory (on their way to a fourth 5A state championship in five years) before an announced crowd of 46,339 at Texas Stadium. The attendance appears to approach 60,000 midway through the third quarter, which would have set an all-time playoff record. These games marked two of the top three all-time attendance figures for a Texas high school football game and the stadium recorded three of the top 20 attendance records.[10]

In 1994, the stadium hosted the John Tyler vs. Plano East high school football regional playoff, whose wild seesaw finish won it the 1995 Showstopper of the Year ESPY Award.

In the early 2000’s, the “Battle of the Axe” rivalry between Lewisville High School and Edward S. Marcus High School was moved to Texas Stadium due to increased animosity and intensity between students of the two schools.

Soccer

In addition to American football, the Dallas Tornado of the NASL used it as their home stadium from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1980 to 1981 when the team folded.

On November 21, 1991, the U.S. Men's National soccer Team played a friendly match against Costa Rica.[11]

Date	Competition	Team 1	Team 2	Score
November 21, 1991	Friendly	United States	Costa Rica	1-1

Supercross

Texas Stadium hosted a round of the AMA Supercross Championship from 1975 to 1977 and 1983 to 2008.[12]

Bull Riding

The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) held a Bud Light Cup event at Texas Stadium known as the "Battle of the Bulls"[13] during the organization's first two years of existence (1994 & 1995). In both instances, the event was won by three-time PBR world champion Adriano Morães (in 1994 he was the co-champion along with Pat Yancey). The 1995 event was also notable because it rained while the roof was open, turning much of the dirt into mud, which affected the performance of several bulls.

Lacrosse

On May 25, 2008, Texas Stadium hosted the first ever professional lacrosse game in Texas when the two-time defending Major League Lacrosse champions Philadelphia Barrage played the Long Island Lizards.[14] The Barrage disbanded after the 2008 season while the re-named New York Lizards are still members of MLL's Eastern Conference as of 2019.[15]

Professional Wrestling

From 1984 to 1988, the stadium hosted the annual World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) David Von Erich "Memorial Parade of Champions" professional wrestling card every May. The initial 1984 card drew more than 40,000 fans, the highest attendance of any wrestling card in the state of Texas at that time.

Religious Gatherings

The stadium hosted religious gatherings such as Promise Keepers and Billy Graham crusades; a Graham crusade was the first event held at Texas Stadium.

From October 17 to October 20, 2002, evangelist Billy Graham held the Metroplex Mission crusade in Texas Stadium. Several Christian musical groups also played during the event. Former president George H. W. Bush gave an introduction for Graham on the first night of the crusade.

Concerts

Date	Artist	Opening act(s)	Tour / Concert name	Attendance	Revenue	Notes
July 13, 1984	The Jacksons	—	Victory Tour	120,000	$3,564,090
July 14, 1984
July 15, 1984
July 26, 1987	Madonna	Level 42	Who's That Girl World Tour	40,601 / 41,000	$812,020
September 17, 1988	INXS	—	Calling All Nations World Tour
October 14, 1988	George Michael	—	Faith World Tour	38,564 / 41,000	$846,923
April 7, 1990	Paul McCartney	—	World Tour	57,337 / 57,337	$1,863,453
March 14, 1992	Willie Nelson Neil Young John Mellencamp and many others	—	Farm Aid VI	—	—
May 8, 1992	Genesis	—	We Can't Dance Tour	—	—
September 5, 1992	Guns N' Roses Metallica	Faith No More	Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour	44,391 / 44,391	$1,220,753	Faith No More lead guitarist Jim Martin joined Metallica onstage for their cover of the Misfits song "Last Caress".
September 24, 1993	Garth Brooks	—	The Garth Brooks World Tour	—	—	The first show was recorded and broadcast on NBC, titled This is Garth Brooks, Too! (a follow-up to Brooks' 1992 televised concert).[16] It was later included in Brooks' The Entertainer DVD collection, released in 2006.
September 25, 1993
October 22, 1994	Carman	—	—	71,132	—	[17][18]
November 14, 1999	Shania Twain	—	Come On Over Tour	40,000	—	This concert was filmed for a CBS TV special which aired on Thanksgiving night.[19]
July 9, 2000	Metallica	Korn Kid Rock Powerman 5000 System of a Down	Summer Sanitarium Tour	—	—	Metallica lead singer James Hetfield was unable to attend the concert as he hurt his back during a jet skiing accident while in Georgia before the Atlanta show. Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, along with other lead singers from the other bands on hand, sang most of the songs. Metallica did return in August to perform two make-up shows at the Starplex in Dallas a month later.[20]
July 15, 2001	Dave Matthews Band	Angelique Kidjo Wyclef Jean	2001 Summer Tour	—	—
August 3, 2003	Metallica	Linkin Park Limp Bizkit Deftones Mudvayne	Summer Sanitarium Tour	—	—

In Television

The stadium appeared in numerous episodes of the television series, Walker, Texas Ranger (1993–2001), which was filmed in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

The Stadium has also appeared in the season one finale of Friday Night Lights As a setting for the State Championship game between the Dillon Panthers and the West Cambria Mustangs.

Throughout the network run of the television series Dallas, a number of scenes were filmed on location at Texas Stadium. An overhead shot of the stadium (looking down at the field from the hole in the roof) was also featured prominently as part of the show's opening credits for each of its thirteen seasons on CBS. This trend has continued with the new series with AT&T Stadium taking its place.

Seating capacity

Years	Capacity
1971–1972	65,000[21]
1973	65,111[22]
1974–1984	65,101[23]
1985–1988	63,855[24]
1989–1994	65,024[25]
1995–1996	65,812[26]
1997–2000	65,675[27]
2001–2002	65,639[28]
2003–2008	65,529[29]

The Cowboys' departure

"Five-time Super Bowl Champions Mural" in the Cowboys' tunnel

When opened, the stadium had many amenities that included 381 luxury suites, a stadium club where fans gathered for parties and banquets, and The Corral that provided food, beverages, entertainment and large screen televisions. However, by the 2000s other NFL teams received new stadiums that had more club and luxury seating than Texas Stadium had, so the Dallas Cowboys asked for a new stadium.[1][30][31]

The Cowboys left Texas Stadium after the 2008 NFL season for AT&T Stadium (opened for the 2009 NFL season) that was partially funded by taxpayers in Arlington. In November 2004, Arlington voters approved a half-cent (.005 per U.S. dollar) sales tax to fund $325 million of the then estimated $650 million stadium by a margin of 55%-45%. Jerry Jones, the Cowboys' owner, spent over $5 million backing the ballot measure, but also agreed to cover any cost overruns which as of 2006 had already raised the estimated cost of the project to $1 billion.

AT&T Stadium, which has a retractable roof system, also includes a setting that mimics a hole in the roof as a tribute to Texas Stadium.[32][33]

The Cowboys lost their final game at Texas Stadium to the Baltimore Ravens, 33–24, on December 20, 2008.

Closure

The stadium was scheduled for demolition and implosion on April 11, 2010, as confirmed by the mayor of Irving on September 23, 2009.[34]

Many of the items in the stadium were auctioned off by the city and the Dallas Cowboys including the stadium seats, scoreboard and other pieces of memorabilia.

The City of Irving announced that the Texas Department of Transportation would pay $15.4 million to lease the site for 10 years for use as a staging location for the State Highway 114/Loop 12 diamond interchange. The city has the right to relocate the staging area if redevelopment becomes available.[35]

Demolition

A post-demolition view
by WFAA-TV in April 2010

On September 23, 2009, the City of Irving granted a demolition contract to Weir Brothers Inc., a local Dallas based company, for the demolition and implosion of the stadium.[36][37][38]

On December 31, 2009, The City of Irving and Kraft Foods announced details of their sponsorship deal for the stadium's implosion — including a national essay contest with the winner getting to pull the trigger that finishes off the stadium.[39] Kraft paid the city $75,000 and donated $75,000 worth of food to local food banks to promote its "Cheddar Explosion" version of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.[40] The city council unanimously approved the sponsorship deal.

At 7:07 a.m. CDT on April 11, 2010, 11-year-old Casey Rogers turned the key to cause the demolition.[41] From the first explosion, it took approximately 25 seconds for the stadium to completely fall. Debris removal continued until July 2010. Texas's Department of Transportation is using the site as an equipment storage and staging area, after which Irving will decide long-term plans.[42]

In 2013–15, the area around the former stadium has been the epicenter for at least 46 small earthquakes, ranging in magnitude from 1.6 to 3.6.[43][44]

References

1. "Texas Stadium". Stadiums of Pro Football.
2. "Dallas taps Pats for 44-21 win". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. October 25, 1971. p. 35.
3. "Cowboys run over Patriots". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. October 25, 1971. p. 3, part 2.
4. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
5. Bell, Jarrett (September 18, 2009). "'This transcends football': 'Boys boast as new stadium shines". USA Today.
6. Shropshire, 1997 pg. 138-139
7. Shropshire, 1997 pg. 139
8. Shropshire, 1997 pg. 139-140
9. Shropshire, 1997 pg. 140
10. "State's single-game attendance record in jeopardy this weekend". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
11. "USA Men's Soccer NAT Team vs Costa Rica at Texas Stadium nov 1991 Ist Half Highlights.mpg". Youtube. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
12. "Historical Dates of Motocross at Texas Stadium". The Vault. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
13. PBR Tour: Battle of the Bulls at Texas Stadium (April 22, 1995)
14. "MLL MAKES TEXAS DEBUT". Yardbarker (Lacrosse News Archives). 25 April 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
15. "2019 MLL Standings". Major League Lacrosse.
16. Sandler, Adam (6 May 1994). "Review: 'This Is Garth Brooks, Too!'". Variety. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
17. Alfonso, Barry (2002). The Billboard guide to Contemporary Christian Music. New York: Billboard Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-8230-7718-2.
18. Ankeny, Jason. "Carman – Biography". Allmusic (Macrovision Corporation). Retrieved December 9, 2009.
19. Evans, Rob (11 October 1999). "Shania Twain Adds Cities To Her East Coast Tour". LiveDaily. Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on 30 August 2003. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
20. Basham, David (2000-07-10). "UPDATE: Metallica Frontman Forced to Sit Out Shows". MTV.com. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
21. "Cowboys, 49ers in Collision". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. January 1, 1972.
22. "1973 Dallas Cowboys Media Guide". Dallas Cowboys. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
23. "SMU-Arkansas Game a Sellout". Associated Press. November 15, 1982.
24. "Cowboys Buying Ads to Sell More Tickets". The Victoria Advocate. June 27, 1988.
25. "Cowboys Are in Demand". Altus Times. September 20, 1992.
26. "City Officials Vow to Bring Super Bowl to Irving, Texas". Kingman Daily Miner. February 8, 1996.
27. "Sports Line". The Bonham Daily Favorite. June 23, 1999.
28. "2001 Dallas Cowboys Media Guide". Dallas Cowboys. 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
29. "2003 Dallas Cowboys Media Guide". Dallas Cowboys. 2003. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
30. McGeady, Andy (24 May 2016). "The great American stadium: High cost, short lifespan". The Irish Times.
31. Smith, Brian T. (11 February 2017). "Facing the reality of NRG Stadium upgrades". Houston Chronicle.
32. "Cowboys unveil plans for new stadium". ESPN. Associated Press. December 12, 2006.
33. "Jerrydome or Jerry Dome (Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington)". Barry Popik. August 22, 2009.
34. "Texas Stadium decision due…". Demolition News. September 24, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2019. Irving Mayor Herb Gears says it’s a bittersweet feeling sad...
35. "Texas Stadium Transition Under Way" (Press release). City of Irving, Texas. February 16, 2010. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
36. "Plans for the Demolition of Texas Stadium Move Forward after City Council Approves Resolution". Irving Weekly. March 28, 2009.
37. "Texas Stadium Demolition Set". Irving Weekly. October 5, 2009.
38. Gormley, Jay (September 24, 2009). "Irving Exploring Auction To Implode Texas Stadium". CBS 11 News. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010.
39. "Texas Stadium Demolition" (Video). YouTube. 11 April 2010.
40. "Kraft's big food donation to Irving pantries delayed by shipping logistics". The Dallas Morning News. July 10, 2010.
41. "Texas Stadium leveled in successful implosion". ESPN. Associated Press. April 11, 2010.
42. "Thousands cheer, reflect as Texas Stadium crumbles into lore". The Dallas Morning News. 12 April 2010. the Texas Department of Transportation is renting the site as a staging area for its Diamond Interchange project
43. "Dallas, Texas Earthquake 2015 Today Rocks Irving, 2nd Day of Quakes". LaLate News. January 15, 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
44. "Recent Earthquakes Near Dallas, Texas, United States". Earthquake Track.

Sources

• Shropshire, Mike. (1997). The Ice Bowl. New York: Donald I. Fine Books. ISBN 1-55611-532-6

External links

• Sarnoff, Nancy. "In Irving, stadium implosion=development opportunity." Houston Chronicle. April 19, 2010.
• crossroadsdfw.com shows potential redevelopment plans for the stadium after the Cowboys leave.

Preceded by Cotton Bowl	Home of the Dallas Cowboys 1971–2008	Succeeded by AT&T Stadium
Preceded by Franklin Field Ownby Stadium	Home of the Dallas Tornado 1972–1975 1980–1981	Succeeded by Ownby Stadium final venue
Preceded by Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Host of the NFL Pro Bowl 1973	Succeeded by Arrowhead Stadium
Preceded by Arrowhead Stadium	Home of the Big 12 Championship Game 2001	Succeeded by Reliant Stadium
Preceded by Kezar Stadium RFK Stadium Metropolitan Stadium Candlestick Park Candlestick Park	Host of NFC Championship Game 1972 1974 1978 1994 1996	Succeeded by RFK Stadium Metropolitan Stadium Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Candlestick Park Lambeau Field