Cowboys get new Stadium
Nick Eatman
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
Nov. 2, 2004, 11:57 p.m. (CDT)
ARLINGTON, Texas - For a team that has lived off winning big on Sundays, the Cowboys scored their biggest victory in their 44-year history on this Tuesday night.
The City of Arlington passed the vote to approve the tax-hike that would allow the city to fund its portion of the $650 million proposal to build the Cowboys a new stadium, which will be located just south of Ameriquest Field - home of the Texas Rangers - and is expected to be completed by 2009.
Arlington mayor Robert Cluck addressed the crowd of nearly a thousand supporters here at the watch party at the Wyndham Hotel with a rather short, but strong statement.
"Ladies and gentlemen . . . We Won!"
By a 54 to 46 percent vote, Arlington taxpayers voted "Yes" for a .5 percent sales and property tax that will allow the city to fund $325 million, with the Cowboys investing the other half. The plan also calls for the Cowboys to pay the city $2 million in yearly rent, starting in 2009 when the stadium is projected to be completed, along with a five-percent fee for any naming rights sold for the new stadium, which has been estimated to be as much as $500,000 a year.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, who has been somewhat out of the spotlight during this campaign, has tried to stress all along the importance of what the stadium will mean to the city of Arlington. And Tuesday night, that stance didn't change.
"The Dallas Cowboys are one of the franchises in sports that have the great tradition, and I've never thought and said that I own the Dallas Cowboys," Jones said. "I just have a chance, like these great leaders, to husband it and carry the ball for a little while. I want you to know how proud I am not only to be standing on the stage with these leaders, but to be here with the citizens of Arlington, basically carrying the ball."
The 75,000-seat stadium, which can be expanded to a capacity 90,000, will include a retractable roof, unique open end zones to hold fans, state-of-the-art video boards and a Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame museum where the franchise's history will be on display, certain to enhance the game-day experience.
"In the last 10 weeks we have witnessed the passion and the loyalty that the citizens of this city have for the place they call home, regardless of where you were on this issue," said Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones, who has spearheaded the Cowboys push for Arlington. "And we have an obligation to make this project work for the benefit of all citizens of this great city. I understand that emotion, because that's the way we feel about the Dallas Cowboys. And I can't think of a better place to bring our organization than right here in the heart of the Metroplex - Arlington, Texas . . . the new home of the Dallas Cowboys."
The Cowboys are hoping the new stadium will host several major sporting events, including the Super Bowl, as NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue visited the Arlington area two weeks ago and said it could be a possible host for a Super Bowl as early as 2010 or 2011.
The Cowboys are also hoping the stadium will host other major events such as the Bowl Championship Series in college football, as well as the annual Red River Shootout between Oklahoma and Texas, which has been held at the Cotton Bowl since 1929.
Mayor Cluck said while the campaign has been difficult at times for the entire city, he knows the hard part is truly just beginning.
And that's why he reached out to the entire city, to both the supporters and the even the citizens who voted against the stadium project.
"I'm asking every citizen in our city to come forward, let's work together, to make this a huge success," Cluck said. "And as I said, I will do everything I can to reach out to those who did not agree with this approach, and I want you to do the same thing because only by doing that - by having every citizen in this city working on this together - will we be eminently successful."
And that's what the Cowboys are counting on - a successful move from Irving, Texas, and Texas Stadium to Arlington in the next five years.
"What you need to hear from me is that when that stadium stands, it will be iron and it will be cement," Jerry Jones said. "But the thing that we want to bring is the thing that we'll start bringing tonight, and that's the emotion and the kind of emotion that sport, the kind of emotion that striving and blind faith, the kind of visibility that can make Arlington have those benefits that they should have when the Dallas Cowboys are calling Arlington home."
And because of Tuesday night's vote, the Cowboys know those days are just down the road.
