The Redskins don’t seem too choked up over the prospect of playing their final game at Texas Stadium today versus the Dallas Cowboys.
Players won’t miss the famed facility with the hole in the roof so “God can watch His favorite team” as Cowboys fans say. No more blimp shots at night looking inside a stadium that when built in 1971 was known for its extravagance. It was the beginning of luxury boxes and fancy scoreboards, pretty cheerleaders and fan comfort.
Five Super Bowl winners and seven NFC champions played at the Irvine, Texas, stadium. There may be more historic venues around the NFL — Lambeau Field and Soldier Field along with RFK Stadium come to mind — but Texas Stadium may be where the NFL truly learned to make money. Owners Clint Murchison and Jerry Jones turned their facilities into giant ATMs. When Redskins owner Dan Snyder arrived in 1999, Jones was his role model in gaining corporate sponsorships.
The old stadium was called a “giant silver hamburger in the sky.” The new one is more like a spaceship. The 2.3 million square-foot structure can house Statue of Liberty, pedestal included, with the roof closed.
The $1.3 billion facility will seat 80,000 with another 20,000 standing room tickets. Jones has figured how to make money from fans without seats — unbelievable. Actually, watch the same thing happen whenever the Redskins relocate to the District in a decade or so. Will the Redskins 91,000 seats no longer be the biggest NFL stadium or do standing fans count?
The new stadium will have a retractable roof to retain that trademark hole. Indeed, it will take 12 minutes to close the roof’s two 63,000 square-foot panels. It was always cool watching rain fall on players while nearby fans sat dry. Those days are probably done.
The Cowboys have plenty of friends and lots more foes. None more so than the Redskins. While it’s Washington coach Jim Zorn’s first game in the rivalry, his pro quarterback debut was at Dallas in a 1976 preseason game with Seattle. Seeing an old stadium fall isn’t always bad, he said.
“A lot of people asked me how I felt when the Kingdome [in Seattle] was imploded,” Zorn said. “I kinda liked the new stadium there so I wasn’t that frustrated. I was ready to move on. I will bet the stadium they’re building in Dallas now, they’ll be very, very proud of. All that history was good, but nobody will be crying tears.”
First Yankee Stadium closed. The Mets leave Shea Stadium today. Now the Cowboys are exiting. Old sports fans are feeling a little older.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
