AT&T Stadium

Lore & Background

The stadium is widely referred to as Jerry World after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who originally envisioned it as a large entertainment venue. The stadium seats 80,000 people, but can be reconfigured to hold over 100,000 people by the use of standing room, making it the largest stadium in the NFL by seating capacity. Additional attendance is made possible by the Party Pass (open areas) sections behind the seats in each end zone that are positioned on a series of six elevated platforms connected by stairways. The record attendance for an NFL regular season game was set in 2009 with a crowd of 105,121. It also has twin video boards that were among the largest high-definition video screens in the world at the time of installation.

In Their Own Story

The sky above Arlington is the color of a bruise when the first busloads of fans pull into the stadium lot. It's a Sunday in October, and the heat still clings to the asphalt even as the air conditioning vents hiss from the concourse. A kid in a size-two jersey—too small, clearly inherited—tugs his father's sleeve and points at the video board, that impossible slab of light hanging over the field like a second sun. Inside, the roof is open, and the Texas sky presses down on the crowd. The pregame music hits, and eighty thousand people inhale at once. A woman three rows back is singing the fight song before the first note ends. The smell is popcorn, sunscreen, and the faint metallic tang of the turf. Somewhere in the upper deck, a group of friends in matching jerseys is doing the 'Hoo-rah' with their arms raised, and the sound rolls across the seats like a wave. The kid in the small jersey stops tugging his father's sleeve. He's watching the players come out, and for a moment, the whole stadium is just breath and light and the low, electric hum of a city that has decided, for three and a half hours, that nothing else exists.

Reader's Guide

Originally estimated at $650 million, the stadium's actual construction cost rose to $1.15 billion, making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever built. To aid Cowboys owner and general manager, Jerry Jones, in paying the construction costs of the new stadium, Arlington voters approved the increase of the city's sales tax by 0.5%, the hotel occupancy tax by 2%, and car rental tax by 5%. The City of Arlington provided over $325 million (including interest) in bonds as funding, and Jones covered any cost overruns. The NFL provided the Cowboys with an additional $150 million loan, following its policy for facilitating financing for the construction of new stadiums. The lead architect on the design team at HKS Architects for the project was Bryan Trubey. A pair of nearly 300 ft (91 m)-tall arches spans the length of the stadium dome (one of the tallest domes in the world), anchored to the ground at each end. The stadium includes more than 3,000 Sony LCD screens throughout the luxury suites, concourses, concession areas and more. It also houses a center-hung Mitsubishi video display board that was the largest HDTV screen in the world at the time of its installation. Glass doors, allowing each end zone to be opened, were designed and constructed by Dallas-based Haley-Greer glass systems. The retractable roof was designed by structural engineering firm Walter P Moore and the systems were implemented by mechanization consultants Uni-Systems. The electrification of Cowboys Stadium's retractable roof was developed by VAHLE, Inc. The football turf field was built by Hellas Construction, which developed a special SoftTop Convertible Turf system that has 26 interchangeable panels to allow the stadium to host a variety of events.

Did You Know?

• The stadium's record attendance for an NFL regular season game was set in 2009 with a crowd of 105,121.
• The stadium has twin video boards that were among the largest high-definition video screens in the world at the time of installation.
• The retractable roof was designed by structural engineering firm Walter P Moore and the systems were implemented by Uni-Systems.
• The stadium replaced the partially covered Texas Stadium, which served as the Cowboys' home from 1971 through the 2008 season.