What $1.2 Billion Will Buy You

We had an opportunity to tour the Dallas Cowboys new spaceship…ahem, stadium…the other day. If you watch professional football at all, you’ve seen the glowing House that Jerry Built.

Surprisingly, when you drive up to the stadium, it doesn’t feel that big. I’m sure I would have a different opinion if I lived in one of the many mid-sized ranch homes that surround the stadium. However, I probably would have sold my home quickly (and early) once the stadium building program was announced!!

In case you can’t make it inside, or are sitting in the parking lot waiting to find a space, there are plenty of giant video screens on the exterior to watch the game.

The statue of Tom Landry made its way from the soon-to-be-demolished Texas Stadium (demo sponsored by a food company – no, really!) to a place of honor near the Pro Shop. I have to confess that I really liked the pale limestone against the cool blue glass.

Inside, the stadium is full of football motifs, reinterpreted in a sleek modern style. Check out the recessed lighting fixtures in one of the club spaces:

Yes, there really are 80,000 seats and there is a humongous (and much ballyhooed) video screen. Yes, it is the world’s largest and yes, the resolution is amazing. However, the screen is so large that it almost feels as though it has its own presence in the stadium. Kind of creepy, actually. Maybe the Video Screen is what the new V television series should have been about (V for Video instead of Visitors). It’s certainly large enough to feel like a spaceship landing amongst an unsuspecting crowd of football fans:

The east and west ends have large glass panel doors (maybe they told us those were the world’s largest as well – I started losing track of what all was a “world’s largest” before too long) that can open to accommodate large crowds. Behind the seating are open areas called party decks, where for a lower ticket price, you can stand in a crowd and watch the game on the world’s largest video screen.

The stadium’s retractable roof can open (or close) in just 9 minutes. Pretty incredible, if you think about it. Two things interesting things I learned:

1. The team doesn’t make the final decision on whether the roof is open or closed – the NFL does.
2. If the roof is open, the designers installed a large star on top of the giant video screen to maintain the classic Cowboys Stadium blimp view that TV viewers are used to seeing – the blue star on (on this case, over) the field.

Between games, the turf is rolled up and stored away. When it’s reinstalled, crews cover the concrete base (which is 18″ thick) with pulverized rubber tires. They then go back and hand-fill the seams with additional rubber. The turf, by the way, is 3″ deep.

One of the notable features of the new large sporting venues is the way that designers manage to give a great view regardless of the seat position. The Boy and I have noticed this when cheering on our Dallas Mavericks (though, ahem, we actually have lower-level awesome seats!). Even high up in the venue, you still feel as though you have a good view of the field of play.

Take, for example, the mid-level suites. The glass windows open (and I can’t imagine that they meet safety guidelines – it’s a long drop if you’ve had too much to drink and trip as you head back to your seat!), the seat are amazingly comfortable and you have a great view of the field.

Lord almighty, though – look at all of those rows of seats!

Because I know there are a fair number of guys who read this blog, I thought I’d also post a photo of the cheerleaders’ locker room. Nothing too fancy, though (and I could insert any number of snarky comments here about why cheerleaders might need photos in the locker room, but won’t because I’m not that kind of person), there are convenient names and photos over each of the lockers.

And for guys who love the more techie-side of things, the stadium (of course) has its own server farm.

That, my friends, is what $1.2 billion will buy you when building a new stadium. I doubt I’ll go to a football game this season, but I will be there when they transform it into the home for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. You can bet I’ll have my camera and will post photos then!