Built to replace the aging Cotton Bowl, it was the home field of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, and had a seating capacity of 65,675. Ironically, the Cotton Bowl still stands as of November 2010 and Texas Stadium is now demolished.
In the mid-1960s, the Dallas Cowboy owner, Clint Murchison, Jr., realized that the area surrounding the Cotton Bowl had become unsafe and downtrodden, and it was not a location he wanted his big dollar season ticket holders to be forced to go through. Murchison was denied a request by Dallas mayor Erik Jonsonn to build a new stadium in downtown Dallas as part of a civic-bond package. Murchison envisioned a new stadium with sky-boxes and one in which attendees would have to pay a personal seating license as a prerequisite to purchasing season tickets. With two games left for the Cowboys to play in the 1967 NFL season, Murchison and Cowboy general manager Tex Schramm announced a plan to build a new stadium in Irving, Texas.
Texas Stadium was to have originally been a stadium with a retractable roof, but it could not support the weight of the entire roof. This resulted in most of the stands being enclosed but not the playing field itself. This unusual arrangement made it difficult to televise the games, a problem, generally speaking, foreseen by the original architect. This design — more commonly seen in European soccer stadiums — prompted Cowboys linebacker D. D. Lewis to make his now-famous quip "Texas Stadium has a hole in its roof so God can watch His favorite team play", often paraphrased as the "hole" in the stadium's roof was there "so that God can watch His team."
The roof at Texas Stadium, whose worn paint had become unsightly in the early 2000s, was repainted in the summer of 2006 by the City of Irving, which owned the stadium. It was the first time the famed roof was repainted since Texas Stadium opened. The roof was structurally independent from the stadium it covered.
The stadium hosted neutral-site college football games and was formerly the home field of the SMU Mustangs from 1979 to 1986. After the school returned from an NCAA-imposed suspension in 1988, school officials moved games back to the school's on-campus Ownby Stadium to signify a clean start for the football program (it has since been replaced by Gerald J. Ford Stadium).
In November and December, Texas Stadium was a major venue for high school football. It was not uncommon for there to be high school football tripleheaders at the stadium. Texas Stadium served as a temporary home for two Dallas-area high schools, Plano Senior High School in 1979 after its home stadium was damaged by a prank gone awry, and Highland Park High School while a new stadium on campus was being built. The 2001 Big 12 conference championship game was held at the site, as well as the 1973 Pro Bowl.
In addition to football, the stadium hosted the North American Soccer League for four seasons, inclding the NASL Championship Match between the Dallas Tornado and Philadelphia and several World Class "friendly" Soccer Matches; concerts; pro wrestling events; and religious gatherings such as Promise Keepers and Billy Graham crusades (a Graham crusade was the first event held at Texas Stadium). From 1984-1988, the stadium hosted the annual World Class Championship Wrestling's David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions wrestling card every May. The initial 1984 card drew more than 40,000 fans, the highest attendance of any wrestling card in the state of Texas at that time. Metallica and Guns N' Roses brought their co-headlining Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour to he stadium on September 5, 1992, with Faith No More as their opening act.
In the mid-1960s, the Dallas Cowboy owner, Clint Murchison, Jr., realized that the area surrounding the Cotton Bowl had become unsafe and downtrodden, and it was not a location he wanted his big dollar season ticket holders to be forced to go through. Murchison was denied a request by Dallas mayor Erik Jonsonn to build a new stadium in downtown Dallas as part of a civic-bond package. Murchison envisioned a new stadium with sky-boxes and one in which attendees would have to pay a personal seating license as a prerequisite to purchasing season tickets. With two games left for the Cowboys to play in the 1967 NFL season, Murchison and Cowboy general manager Tex Schramm announced a plan to build a new stadium in Irving, Texas.
Texas Stadium was to have originally been a stadium with a retractable roof, but it could not support the weight of the entire roof. This resulted in most of the stands being enclosed but not the playing field itself. This unusual arrangement made it difficult to televise the games, a problem, generally speaking, foreseen by the original architect. This design — more commonly seen in European soccer stadiums — prompted Cowboys linebacker D. D. Lewis to make his now-famous quip "Texas Stadium has a hole in its roof so God can watch His favorite team play", often paraphrased as the "hole" in the stadium's roof was there "so that God can watch His team."
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In November and December, Texas Stadium was a major venue for high school football. It was not uncommon for there to be high school football tripleheaders at the stadium. Texas Stadium served as a temporary home for two Dallas-area high schools, Plano Senior High School in 1979 after its home stadium was damaged by a prank gone awry, and Highland Park High School while a new stadium on campus was being built. The 2001 Big 12 conference championship game was held at the site, as well as the 1973 Pro Bowl.
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