The Dallas Cowboys have the biggest stadium in NFL history. Their owner, Jerry Jones, is a billionaire with plenty of money to spend. This year, their new stadium holds over 100,000 people at full capacity. Some say the stadium is just too much. I have to disagree; this legendary stadium is how sports should be. Honestly, who wants to see a game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco when you could watch it on a big 70 inch television in your own house? Plus, the concessions are much cheaper at home.
The best part about the entire project is the main scoreboard, which sits high above the playing field. It is 7 stories tall (roughly 70 feet) and weighs 600 tons. For those who can’t convert that to pounds, that is 1.2 million pounds. If that thing were to fall, I would not want to be living in Texas. I’m not a science major, but I can promise that if it falls (God forbid of course) we may experience a very big disaster.
The scoreboard caused many problems at the beginning. In a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans kicker A.J. Trapasso kicked the ball into the scoreboard. The ball hit some rails in the middle and came down immediately. Titans coach Jeff Fisher challenged the play and it was rekicked. The problem here is that no other stadium in the league has the scoreboard where they Cowboys have it. The NFL ruled that the scoreboard is within regulations, so there isn’t anything that can be done until next season. It is rumored that to move the 1.2 million pound scoreboard one foot higher it would cost $1 million.
Outside of the problems with the scoreboard, the stadium will revitalize the way fans see football and other sports. The average ticket is roughly $150 per person, but from what ESPN writers and celebrities have said, it is certainly worth it. I personally hate going to sporting events live for many reasons. One, there is too much alcohol that isn’t governed properly by security. The NFL has rules on when the sale of alcohol has to stop, but there is no way to check. I can go to a vendor and buy two beers (the maximum each time unless I appear intoxicated) and then go find another vendor and buy two more immediately, which gives me four beers to drink. Drunk people at a sporting event find ways to annoy the sober ones.
Two, even some sober fans can ruin a good family experience. I’ll use the time I went to an Oakland A’s baseball game as an example. Three women who were sitting behind me (all of whom I think were sober) decided to yell racist words at the African American outfielder. If I had a family, I would never subject them to that kind of language, especially at a ballpark. Same goes for football; and I’ve heard some pretty nasty things said before.
Finally, why would I want to go to a live sporting event when I can sit on my couch, pause if I need to use the bathroom, eat all the food I want at a much cheaper price, and be around only those that I care about? On top of that, if I have a nice HD television, the picture quality is better on there than it is live. What the Cowboys have done is give fans a strong incentive to come back to the stadium. Alcohol will always be around, and some fans will always be jerks during games, but I get the feeling that this new stadium will keep fans coming for years to come.
Josh they don’t call Oakland A’s fans “raiders fans who can’t afford raider tickets” and root for the A’s because they afford the tickets without there being some reason. Look back even a couple of years you had fans yelling things at a bullpen pitcher for Texas and getting hit in the face. Football is an entirely different issue to because the fans tend to be routerer (check spelling) do the cost of tickets and the fact that it is a much more corperate driven sport. How many people do you now that are willing to put down the money for four season tickets for a football team and how many are willing to go at least 8 baseball games that are families.
I think that some fans really ruin the experience for other fans. I love my football, everyone knows that, but I hate attending games live now because of how some people choose to act. It really changes how one sees the game; it really does destroy the family environment sports was created for. If I ever have children, I will NEVER take them to a Raider game. The simple reason is because their fans are crazy. For the record, routerer is supposed to be rowdier.