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.

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.