Cowboys New Home Looking Good, Can't Wait To Move In

An article by Kelly Horn    3 Comments

This past weekend I took a trip to Dallas and made my way down to the new stadium construction site. It was a Sunday so the workers weren’t on duty. I could see it from miles away, but as we approached the scene my jaw dropped and I just said, “WOW!”

I could not believe the progress since Thanksgiving, the last time I visited Dallas. Look at this picture I took just six months ago.

I’m telling you, it’s a monster! What an addition to the area. Combining this new attraction with its neighbors, Texas Rangers ballpark and Six Flags over Texas, Arlington will now become the pride of Texas.

Although I have had mixed feelings regarding the demise of Texas Stadium, those feelings became tempered once I got a first hand look at our soon-to-be new home. Texas Stadium will always be in my heart, but I gotta tell ya, I’m getting very excited about all of the memories we will make in the new stadium.

Statistics from dallascowboys.com

Total Square Footage: 2.3 million square feet. The entire Statue of Liberty and its base could fit into the stadium with the roof closed. The stadium is also the world’s largest column-free room. The American Airlines Center in Dallas could fit entirely into the new stadium at field level.

Interior Cubic Volume: 104 million cubic feet. (By comparison, Reliant Stadium in Houston measures 90 million cubic feet.) The Dallas Cowboys stadium will be the largest enclosed stadium (in cubic feet) in the NFL.

Seating Capacity: A capacity of 80,000 plus standing room or additional seating in the end zones, along with ticketed areas in the end zone plazas can increase total capacity to 100,000.

Suites: There will be 200 suites in eight different locations on five separate levels of the stadium. Field-level suites will be available on the sidelines as well as in the end zone for up-close and personal viewing of the games. The Hall of Fame level suites will be 20 rows from the field, making them the closest in the NFL.

Domed Roof: At 660,800 square feet, the stadium will be the largest domed structure in the world.

Retractable Roof: The open roof design that was a unique feature of Texas Stadium will be carried over into the design of the new stadium, with the improvement of a new retractable feature, revealing an opening that measures 256 feet wide and 410 feet long. Two bi-parting mechanized roof panels – each measuring 63,000 square feet – will be driven by a rack-and-pinion drive system consisting of 64 7.5 HP electric motors, making it the first of its kind in the world. The open/close time is 12 minutes.

Arches: The roof is supported by two 35-feet deep and 15-feet wide boxed arch trusses. Each truss spans 1,290 feet – nearly a quarter mile – making the roof the longest clear-span structure in the world. The arches are more than twice the length of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Glass Retractable Door: Each end zone features a five-leaf clear glass retractable door measuring 120 feet high and 180 feet wide, making it the tallest moveable glass wall in the world.

Parking: It is estimated that between parking owned or under control of the Dallas Cowboys as well as the entrepreneurial lots in and around the stadium area, that there will be 30,000 parking spaces