Cotton Bowl (stadium)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cotton Bowl | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | 1300 Robert B. Cullum Boulevard Fair Park Dallas, Texas, USA |
| Coordinates | |
| Broke ground | 1932 |
| Opened | 1932 |
| Owner | City of Dallas |
| Operator | City of Dallas |
| Surface | Grass |
| Tenants | |
| Cotton Bowl (NCAA) (1937-2009) Dallas Cowboys (NFL) (1960-1970) Dallas Texans (AFL) (1960-1962) FC Dallas (MLS) (1996- 2002, 2004 - 2005) SMU Mustangs (NCAA) (1929-1986, 1995-2000) |
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| Capacity | |
| 68,252 | |
The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1932. Originally known as "Fair Park Bowl", it is located in Fair Park, site of the State Fair in Dallas, Texas, USA. It has a natural grass surface and a capacity of 68,252 seats. Concerts or other events using a stage allow the playing field to be used for additional spectators to a capacity past 80,000. The Cotton Bowl is the home of the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game, for which the stadium is named. The Cowboys hosted the Green Bay Packers for the 1966 NFL championship at the Cotton Bowl. Artificial turf was installed in 1970 and removed in 1993.
The stadium has been home to many football teams over the years, including: SMU Mustangs (NCAA), Dallas Cowboys (NFL; 1960-1970), Dallas Texans (NFL) (1952), Kansas City Chiefs (as the Dallas Texans) (AFL; 1960-1962), and soccer teams, the Dallas Tornado (NASL; 1967-1968), and FC Dallas (the Dallas Burn before 2005) (Major League Soccer; 1996-2002, 2004-2005). It was also the site of some games in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The annual Oklahoma-Texas college football game, called "The AT&T Red River Rivalry", is played at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas, instead of a campus site. Ticket sales are equally divided between the two schools. However, the schools had announced plans to discontinue playing the game at the Cotton Bowl after 2007, citing major problems with the aging facility, and to instead move the game to a traditional home-and-away series. The two schools have not expressed interest in moving the game to either Texas Stadium or the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium once it opens, citing the State Fair as the chief reason for holding the game in Dallas.
However, amidst the ideas about moving from the Cotton Bowl, both schools have recently approved a deal with the Cotton Bowl to continue playing "The Red River Rivalry" at the Cotton Bowl until 2010. As a result of this extension, the city of Dallas will allocate $30 million towards an estimated $50 million (at least part of the final total could possibly come from a sale of the naming rights for the stadium) renovation from an upcoming city bond proposal for several modifications and updates to the stadium. These proposed renovations include expanding the seating capacity of the stadium from 76,000 to 92,107, new media and VIP facilities, a new scoreboard, updated restrooms and concession areas, lighting, utility and sound upgrades and the replacement of the stadium's seats. [1]
On the rare occasion, the stadium has also been the venue where a number of historic music concerts have taken place, most notably that which featured then 21-year-old Elvis Presley, which took place on October 11, 1956 and attracting, as it did, what was then the largest audience in Texas history for an outdoor concert, in excess of 27,000 teenagers.
Many consecutive summers of huge concerts featuring several bands began in July 1978 with the 1st annual "Texas Jam", which sold out with over 80,000 attendees. Over the years of the "Texas Jam" some of the top-billed headliner bands include: Aerosmith, Heart, Rush, Deep Purple, Boston, and others, to list all the many popular supporting acts would need tedious research but some were: Journey, Ted Nugent, Scorpions, Loverboy, Van Halen,... to name but a handful. There were occasionally additional rock music events those years such as the "Summer Blowout" in August/1979. Each "Texas Jam" or other rock events there had a unique lineup of major artists chosen by the promoter. After the annual "Texas Jam" events came to an end after about 1986 Van Halen came there a couple of times with a traveling show of several bands called the "Monsters Of Rock" tour. Since those days U2 has been in concert there, Eric Clapton organized a huge blues festival there also.
[edit] In popular culture
The stadium was featured in a 1981 episode of Dallas where J.R. Ewing meets Dusty Farlow.
[edit] References
- ^ Leventhal, Dave (2006-05-12). "Cotton Bowl set for spot on ballot". Dallas Morning News.
[edit] External links
| Venues of the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA |
|---|
| Citrus Bowl (Orlando) • Cotton Bowl (Dallas) • Foxboro Stadium (Boston) • Giants Stadium (New York/New Jersey) • Pontiac Silverdome (Detroit) • RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.) • Rose Bowl (Los Angeles) • Soldier Field (Chicago) • Stanford Stadium (San Francisco) |
| Preceded by first stadium |
Home of the Dallas Cowboys 1960–October 11, 1971 |
Succeeded by Texas Stadium October 24, 1971–2008 |
| Preceded by first stadium |
Home of the Dallas Texans 1960–1962 |
Succeeded by Municipal Stadium 1963–1971 |
| Preceded by first stadium |
Home of the Dallas Burn 1996–2002 |
Succeeded by Dragon Stadium 2003 |
| Preceded by Dragon Stadium 2003 |
Home of the Dallas Burn/ FC Dallas 2004–2005 |
Succeeded by Pizza Hut Park 2005–present |
| Preceded by first stadium |
Home of the Cotton Bowl 1937–2009 |
Succeeded by Dallas Cowboys New Stadium 2010– |
Categories: American Football League venues | College football venues | Current NCAA bowl game venues | Dallas Cowboys | Defunct National Football League venues | FC Dallas | FIFA World Cup stadiums | SMU Mustangs football | Soccer venues in the United States | Sports in Dallas | Sports venues in Dallas
