The Dallas Cowboys First Home - The Cotton Bowl

By Rick Bedard

The Dallas Cowboys have been at the forefront of the National Football League for more than forty years. They have consistently been a force on the field and are considered to be the most valuable sports franchise in North America. For the past thirty-five years the Dallas Cowboys have called Texas Stadium, a purpose built stadium, home. For a decade prior to that the Cowboys franchise, which joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960, called the Cotton Bowl home.

The Cotton Bowl has a long and storied history and has been witness to many spectacular sporting and concert events. It is perhaps most well known for playing host to the Cotton Bowl Classic college football game, an annual event since 1937. Indeed, the stadium was named for this event. Opened in 1932, the Cotton Bowl, originally known as Fair Park Bowl, is located in Dallas, Texas, at Fair Park, site of the State Fair. The stadium, with its natural grass surface, seats 68,252. For concerts, where the playing field is utilized, the stadiums capacity rises to 80,000. The Cotton Bowl did convert to artificial turf in 1970 but returned to a natural surface in 1993.

In addition to the NFL Dallas Cowboys, many a football team have called the Cotton Bowl home, including: SMU Mustangs of the NCAA, and the Dallas Texans (NFL, 1952 and AFL 1960-1962). In addition to football teams, soccer teams have also called the Cotton Bowl home. The Dallas Tornados of the NASL played there from 1967-1968. FC Dallas (formerly know as the Dallas Burn) of Major League Soccer played at the stadium from 1996-2002 and 2004-2005. The Cotton Bowl also played host to some games for the 1994 FIFA World Cup

Needless to say through its long history, the Cotton Bowl has been witness to many a great games. One of the great moments in Cotton Bowl history not to mention Dallas Cowboys history is the 1966 NFL Championship game where the Cowboys played host to the Green Bay Packers. The Packers went on to win the game and although the Cowboys season ended it was the start of what would be 20 consecutive winning seasons for Cowboys football.

There have also been many great Cotton Bowl games played at the stadium over the past 70 years. The first Cotton Bowl game of 1937 saw Texas Christian University take on Maquette and claim victory. The Cotton Bowl game has always been played on New Years day, except when January 1 falls on a Sunday the game is moved to January 2. Unfortunately, the Cotton Bowl game will be played for the last time at self-named Cotton Bowl Stadium in 2009. In 2010 the Cotton Bowl will be moved to the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington, Texas

The Cotton Bowl is the site of the annual University of Oklahoma Sooners-University of Texas Longhorns college football game known as the Red River Shootout or most recently the AT &T Red River Rivalry that takes place during the State Fair of Texas. The game that takes its name from the Red River, which forms the boundary between the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas, has been in existence since 1900. The rivalry between these two teams is considered one of the greatest in sports. At one point, as a result of problems with the aging Cotton Bowl, it was decided that following the 2007 season this classic game would be moved to a traditional home and home series. It has now been decided that the AT&T Red River Rivalry will continue at the Cotton Bowl through 2010.

The Cotton Bowl has been around for 75 years and is showing signs of aging. To address the aging problems, an estimated $50 million is planned for modifications and updates to the stadium. Proposed renovations include expanding the seating capacity to 92,000, replacing the stadium seats, a new scoreboard, new media and VIP facilities, updated restrooms, concession areas and lighting, utility and sound up-grades.

In its early years the stadium was more or less strictly a sports facility, however, on rare occasions it played host to music concerts. In 1956, Elvis Presley played at the Cotton Bowl where he attracted a crowd of 27,000 people – the largest attendance for an outdoor concert in Texas history. In 1978 the first annual “Texas Jam” was held at the Cotton Bowl. Over the years, bands such as Aerosmith, Heart, Deep Purple, Boston, Loverboy and Van Halen appeared at the “Texas Jam” until 1986 when the event came to an end. Since this time other big names, such as U2 have appeared at the Cotton Bowl.

The Cotton Bowl has served as a venue for sporting events for the past 75 years and has had its share of historic moments and classic football games. It is hoped that with the renovations to the stadium it will continue to play a prominent role in Dallas and Texas State sporting events. The Dallas Cowboys got there start at the Cotton Bowl and were proud to call it home for 10 years.

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