What $1 Billion can - and can't - buy you in the NFL

It's Monday night in September and my wife is off with a friend of hers at the Rob Thomas concert.  Which means I'm not at band practice - a standard Monday evening ritual - but at home with the boys, who are now (supposedly) asleep in bed.  The TV is on and I'm watching my beloved Carolina Panthers taking on the Dallas Cowboys in that time-honored tradition known as Monday Night Football.  The game has a lot of intrigue - the Panthers are 0-2 and have not done much to instill confidence in their fan base so far this season.  The Cowboys seem slightly better but they, too, have an erratic quarterback and suspect defense.  Suffice to say it should be an interesting matchup.

That being the case, what is almost just as intriguing as the game itself is the field the game is being played on - the field and the millions of tons of concrete and steel hanging over it.  The New Dallas Cowboys Stadium is a sporting venue unlike any other - and that's not just a figure of speech.  It's been getting so much attention that Matt Lauer and Al Roker broadcast part of The Today Show from it a few weeks ago (no doubt promoting NBC's Sunday Night football game a few days later).

(Sweet, the Panther's defense held on the Cowboy's first possession and they missed a field goal.  My apologies for the occasional game interruption).

By now you've probably heard some of the facts and statistics surrounding this behemoth, which was introduced on opening night with a short video montage that showed the Parthenon, the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, the Roman Coliseum....and finally the Cowboys Stadium.  Nothing like setting the bar high!  Anyway, here are just a few to chew on:

• The interior of the stadium is 3 million square feet.
• Seating capacity is well over 100,000, making opening night the largest crowd to ever see an NFL game in person.
• The storied jumbo hi-def screen hanging over the field is 60 yards long, the largest of it's kind in the world.  It also has been a source of frustration for some punters.
• The interior of the stadium is so vast that the entire Ford Field, the indoor football stadium for the NFL Detroit Lions built just a few years ago, could actually fit inside it.
• In addition to the jumbo screen, there are over 3000 other screens in the luxury suites, concourses and restaurants.  Know that one concession stand at your local high school stadium?  There are hundreds of them here, along with dozens of food courts.
• The roof is retractable and can be opened and closed as the weather permits.  In addition, each end of the stadium is a huge sliding door that can be opened to let in air flow.  However, both doors must be opened at the same time or the air pressure could blow out the opposite door.
• Leases for the luxury suites range between $100,000-500,000 - and that's only for Cowboy games, not third-party events. They've got ten home games this season, including preseason games. Do the math.
• A 20-inch pepperoni pizza sells for $60 and parking goes for $75.  I think I read somewhere that a beer was $9 (which, all things considered, is pretty reasonable).
• Want to just go and hang out in the concourse areas with your friends without seeing any of the actual game?  You can, for a mere $29.  Seriously.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Every fact about this stadium is worth acknowledging.

(Hmm, first Panther possession was nothing to get excited about. Would've liked a little more "umph" out of the initial drive, guys.)

So time for full disclosure here: I do not like the Cowboys.  I was raised by my Dad to follow the Washington Redskins, which meant I could only hold the supposed "America's Team" with disdain and scorn.  I once met someone who swore they were both a Cowboys and Redskins fan.  I told them they needed to have their head checked. I will admit to Troy Aikman being a class act and I thought it was cool when Emmitt Smith won the original "Dancing With The Stars."  Other than that, though, there's not much I find more unappealing in the football world than that blue star on the silver helmet.  Even so, I'd like to think my uncomfortableness with this stadium has nothing to do with the team that's playing in it.

(Dang, Jake's eleventh interception in four games, dating back to the debacle in last year's playoff game.)    

I love me some football, I really do.  I suffer mightily every February as the last few seconds of the Super Bowl wind down and our world enters the 4-5 month purgatory known as baseball season.  I watch preseason games even though they don't mean a bloomin' thing (last year's winless Detroit Lions, as an example, went 4-0 in the preseason).  I know these guys get paid way too much money and there's simply no way to justify a drafted rookie haggling over whether his signing bonus should be $10 million or $12 million.  Still, I can't help myself.  I eat it all up, much to the chagrin of my betrothed.

But really - a $1 billion stadium?  Sure it's an architecture marvel and the huge TV screen is impressive.  But is it necessary?  Word is that it came with a price tag of well over $1 billion - that's with a "B" folks. And if you're in the greater Dallas area you going to feel about $325 million of that.  That's not chump change. It doesn't help matters that the instigator behind this is a narcissistic owner who unceremoniously fired a class act of a coach upon his arrival (Tom Landry) and then years later ditched his most successful coach because he'd proven not to be a simple "yes man" (Jimmy Johnson). It's hard to root for a guy like that.

But most importantly - does a stadium like this really enhance the overall experience?  When you get right down to it, everything boils down to one common denominator: the game on the field.  And despite all the bells and whistles surrounding it, the only thing that really matters is the two teams suiting up in helmets and pads, blocking, running, passing, tackling, trying with all their might to get a foot-long leather orb into the gridiron Holy Land known as the end zone.  That's why this game is a work of art whether you're watching it in a fancy NFL stadium or freezing on those horrid aluminum bleachers on a Friday night cheering for your local high school team.

(YEAH!  Touchdown, Rosario!  Nice snag!  Panthers up 7-0!)

All I can say is that I'd hate to be Tony Romo or Wade Phillips.  You don't build the Roman Coliseum of the 21st century to house a .500 football team. Talk about pressure.

Glad it's them and not me.  I'll go back to watching the game on my old tube TV from the comforts of my 13-year old recliner while munching on my $2 bag of pretzels.  It's good enough for me.

*********************

POSTSCRIPT: Panthers lose 21-7, Delhomme throws another interception and a fumble. An ugly finish in any stadium.....

Comments

[BelovedSpear]

Nothing has changed since Roman times, when city-states poured resources into lavish games and arenas. We humans really are quite impressively consistent.