'Dump' of a stadium awaits NU fans

[Eric the Red]

Dump of a Stadium Awaits Husker Fans

 

BY LEE BARFKNECHT

 

 

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

 

The Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas looks much the same as when Texas lost to Oklahoma 45-0 during the 1956 regular season.

 

The Cotton Bowl stadium - where the University of Nebraska will play football Monday against Auburn University - is big at 76,000 seats, but it wins no honors for fan-friendly amenities.

 

The art deco structure, built in 1930 on the state fairgrounds just east of downtown Dallas, was cited in 2003 for 10 "identified deficiencies" in a Fair Park Corp. Development plan.

 

Among the criticisms:

 

Undersize concourses that cause gridlock; restroom numbers significantly below standards; inadequate concession areas, sound system and scoreboard; and seats installed in 1968 that are "at the end of their useful life."

 

Dallas Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington, in 2005, summed up the place this way:

 

"The Cotton Bowl is a dump. A decaying canyon of concrete, it doesn't need bricks and mortar as much as a couple of mortar shells.

 

"Concourses are too narrow, stench too wide. Can't hardly swing a dead rat without hitting a woman waiting in a restroom line. And before you get up from your seat, you've first got to get your knees surgically removed from the guy in front of you."

 

Fans of the Cotton Bowl were heartened last month when Dallas voters approved a $30 million bond issue for stadium improvements, including expansion to 92,000 seats. The State Fair is going to chip in an additional $20 million.

 

Fans attending next week's Cotton Bowl will be disappointed to learn that no creature-comfort improvements will begin until spring 2007.

 

The most noticeable upgrade since the Fair Park report three years ago is a new video replay board.

 

Kevin Lippman is a Dallas attorney and the president of that city's University of Texas Exes alumni group. Since 1990, he has regularly attended the Texas-Oklahoma game, played annually at the Cotton Bowl, and he occasionally has gone to the Cotton Bowl game.

 

Asked to give Husker fans, who haven't been to the Cotton Bowl in 27 years, a scouting report on the game-day experience, Lippman said:

 

"Given today's luxury-style stadiums, you've just got to put that out of your mind. You're not going to have that experience at the Cotton Bowl. It's not a comfortable place."

 

Still, if football is your passion, the Cotton Bowl offers some rewards.

 

"To me, it's the old traditional football stadium," Lippman said. "It's for watching the game.

 

"The sight lines are good throughout the stadium. And the seats are relatively close to the field. That helps generate a lot of excitement in the stadium."

 

Cotton Bowl President Rick Baker said he was pleased that Dallas voters approved the stadium improvement bond issue.

 

Yet the promise of $50 million in upgrades doesn't mean that the Cotton Bowl game will continue to be played at the Cotton Bowl stadium.

 

Baker said his bowl is involved in a yearlong strategic planning study. A third party was hired to interview more than 100 of what Baker described as "influential people in the college football industry."

 

Among the review issues is whether the Cotton Bowl game stays at Fair Park - a stark and empty place on Jan. 1 - or moves to the suburb of Arlington into the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium, scheduled for completion in 2009.

 

Said Baker: "That's the key issue for us in terms of our future."

 

Stephen Jones, son of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the team's chief operating officer, is on the Cotton Bowl board of directors. Baker said Cotton Bowl representatives have met with the Cowboys, as well as with Dallas city leaders.

 

"When you are playing in your namesake stadium and you've played in it for 70 years, we don't take that lightly," Baker said. "People have told us that because the new place will be shiny and NFL quality, that it's a no-brainer to move to Arlington."

 

Yet if the Cotton Bowl had wanted an NFL-quality stadium with suites, Baker said, the bowl could have moved to Texas Stadium - the Cowboys' current home - 20 years ago.

 

"So we want to make sure we're doing all the right things for all the right reasons," he said. "And we're going to take our time."

 

Dallas bought a little more time with Texas and Oklahoma when, in May, those two schools agreed to keep playing their series at the Cotton Bowl through 2010.

 

Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and Oklahoma A.D. Joe Castiglione declined to comment on the stadium's condition and the home of their series beyond 2010.

 

The issue has become so "hot and political" that public comment has proven counterproductive, said a school official. Neither school wants to appear to be holding Dallas taxpayers hostage to vote for improvements, insiders say, when neither can guarantee that stadium renovation will keep the game in Dallas.

 

The Texas-Oklahoma game, held at the same time that a quarter-million people are attending the Texas State Fair, can be a breathtaking experience. Ferris wheels, corny dog stands and live music performances are literally just 50 steps away from the Cotton Bowl entrance.

 

Last year, two Oklahoma student government bodies pushed a resolution calling for OU students to band with Texas students to try to keep the game at the Cotton Bowl.

 

Despite the stadium's "shabby conditions and lack of seating," the resolution said, "it would be a tragedy for the two schools to lose the experience of OU/Texas at the Cotton Bowl."

 

Lippman, the Dallas attorney, said his Texas alumni group is working toward a similar goal.

 

"The vast majority of Texas Exes we talk to," he said, "want it to stay at the Cotton Bowl."

 

Would Texas and Oklahoma consider moving their game to the Cowboys' new stadium?

 

"From what we've heard from DeLoss Dodds, they would not take Texas-OU to Arlington," Lippman said. "It looks like it would either stay at the Cotton Bowl or go home and home."

[hookem22]

Dump of a Stadium Awaits Husker Fans

 

BY LEE BARFKNECHT

 

 

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

 

The Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas looks much the same as when Texas lost to Oklahoma 45-0 during the 1956 regular season.

 

The Cotton Bowl stadium - where the University of Nebraska will play football Monday against Auburn University - is big at 76,000 seats, but it wins no honors for fan-friendly amenities.

 

The art deco structure, built in 1930 on the state fairgrounds just east of downtown Dallas, was cited in 2003 for 10 "identified deficiencies" in a Fair Park Corp. Development plan.

 

Among the criticisms:

 

Undersize concourses that cause gridlock; restroom numbers significantly below standards; inadequate concession areas, sound system and scoreboard; and seats installed in 1968 that are "at the end of their useful life."

 

Dallas Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington, in 2005, summed up the place this way:

 

"The Cotton Bowl is a dump. A decaying canyon of concrete, it doesn't need bricks and mortar as much as a couple of mortar shells.

 

"Concourses are too narrow, stench too wide. Can't hardly swing a dead rat without hitting a woman waiting in a restroom line. And before you get up from your seat, you've first got to get your knees surgically removed from the guy in front of you."

 

Fans of the Cotton Bowl were heartened last month when Dallas voters approved a $30 million bond issue for stadium improvements, including expansion to 92,000 seats. The State Fair is going to chip in an additional $20 million.

 

Fans attending next week's Cotton Bowl will be disappointed to learn that no creature-comfort improvements will begin until spring 2007.

 

The most noticeable upgrade since the Fair Park report three years ago is a new video replay board.

 

Kevin Lippman is a Dallas attorney and the president of that city's University of Texas Exes alumni group. Since 1990, he has regularly attended the Texas-Oklahoma game, played annually at the Cotton Bowl, and he occasionally has gone to the Cotton Bowl game.

 

Asked to give Husker fans, who haven't been to the Cotton Bowl in 27 years, a scouting report on the game-day experience, Lippman said:

 

"Given today's luxury-style stadiums, you've just got to put that out of your mind. You're not going to have that experience at the Cotton Bowl. It's not a comfortable place."

 

Still, if football is your passion, the Cotton Bowl offers some rewards.

 

"To me, it's the old traditional football stadium," Lippman said. "It's for watching the game.

 

"The sight lines are good throughout the stadium. And the seats are relatively close to the field. That helps generate a lot of excitement in the stadium."

 

Cotton Bowl President Rick Baker said he was pleased that Dallas voters approved the stadium improvement bond issue.

 

Yet the promise of $50 million in upgrades doesn't mean that the Cotton Bowl game will continue to be played at the Cotton Bowl stadium.

 

Baker said his bowl is involved in a yearlong strategic planning study. A third party was hired to interview more than 100 of what Baker described as "influential people in the college football industry."

 

Among the review issues is whether the Cotton Bowl game stays at Fair Park - a stark and empty place on Jan. 1 - or moves to the suburb of Arlington into the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium, scheduled for completion in 2009.

 

Said Baker: "That's the key issue for us in terms of our future."

 

Stephen Jones, son of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the team's chief operating officer, is on the Cotton Bowl board of directors. Baker said Cotton Bowl representatives have met with the Cowboys, as well as with Dallas city leaders.

 

"When you are playing in your namesake stadium and you've played in it for 70 years, we don't take that lightly," Baker said. "People have told us that because the new place will be shiny and NFL quality, that it's a no-brainer to move to Arlington."

 

Yet if the Cotton Bowl had wanted an NFL-quality stadium with suites, Baker said, the bowl could have moved to Texas Stadium - the Cowboys' current home - 20 years ago.

 

"So we want to make sure we're doing all the right things for all the right reasons," he said. "And we're going to take our time."

 

Dallas bought a little more time with Texas and Oklahoma when, in May, those two schools agreed to keep playing their series at the Cotton Bowl through 2010.

 

Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and Oklahoma A.D. Joe Castiglione declined to comment on the stadium's condition and the home of their series beyond 2010.

 

The issue has become so "hot and political" that public comment has proven counterproductive, said a school official. Neither school wants to appear to be holding Dallas taxpayers hostage to vote for improvements, insiders say, when neither can guarantee that stadium renovation will keep the game in Dallas.

 

The Texas-Oklahoma game, held at the same time that a quarter-million people are attending the Texas State Fair, can be a breathtaking experience. Ferris wheels, corny dog stands and live music performances are literally just 50 steps away from the Cotton Bowl entrance.

 

Last year, two Oklahoma student government bodies pushed a resolution calling for OU students to band with Texas students to try to keep the game at the Cotton Bowl.

 

Despite the stadium's "shabby conditions and lack of seating," the resolution said, "it would be a tragedy for the two schools to lose the experience of OU/Texas at the Cotton Bowl."

 

Lippman, the Dallas attorney, said his Texas alumni group is working toward a similar goal.

 

"The vast majority of Texas Exes we talk to," he said, "want it to stay at the Cotton Bowl."

 

Would Texas and Oklahoma consider moving their game to the Cowboys' new stadium?

 

"From what we've heard from DeLoss Dodds, they would not take Texas-OU to Arlington," Lippman said. "It looks like it would either stay at the Cotton Bowl or go home and home."

 

 

as sad as this is...it is true. The Cotton Bowl is a dump...take it from someone who has been there...

[admo]

I've been there too. A lot of it is true, but know this: It is a GREAT viewing of the field. And the field itself looks great.

 

The article even mentions this inbetween all the ragging and obvious reasons, so keep this in mind:

 

"The sight lines are good throughout the stadium. And the seats are relatively close to the field. That helps generate a lot of excitement in the stadium."

 

GBR!!!

[California Husker]

The Cotton Bowl can be no worse than that piece of crap NU played in out here in Los Angeles this past September. The Coliseum is and has been a pile of crap since the 1980’s when the Rams decided to leave and they have done little to improve it. Anyone who came out and braved the conditions here will surely not find things any worse in Dallas.

 

By the way, I am jeolous of those of you who will be attending the Cotton Bowl. Have fun, and GO BIG RED!!!!

[gamecocks]

My Uncle went to the Cotton Bowl when we played LSU back in the day, and he said it was a dump then, and as probally gotten even worse as they have made no real renovations over the years.

[admo]

It sure doesnt have any appeal, & you may even scratch your head a few times thinking "Are you serious?". The closeness to the field is about the only impressive thing, so that's good. There isnt much room from the players standing on the sidelines to the seats.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

How does it compare to Memorial stadium?

[MCAT800]

Never been there, but I am a sucker for the old stadiums and the mystic they hold.

Hope you guys that are going have a good time

[Hunter94]

kind of a paradox if you ask me, as proud of Texas, as Texans are and then hold this game in a rat hole of a stadium, is pure contradiction as far as i am concerned, pretty embarassing as far as fan accomodating

[hookem22]

kind of a paradox if you ask me, as proud of Texas, as Texans are and then hold this game in a rat hole of a stadium, is pure contradiction as far as i am concerned, pretty embarassing as far as fan accomodating

 

Well the city council of the city of Dallas and madam no (mayor Laura Miller) have made it difficult to do anything recently. They turned down the Dallas Cowboys so the 'boys are moving to Arlington. They did approve the plan to improve the stadium, but that still might not save the Cotton Bowl's stay at Fair Park as the Cowboys new 1 Billion Dollar Stadium opens in 2009. Stuff about their new stadium can be seen here: http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/

 

It is located in the heart of the metroplex close to the highway interchange of I-30 and Highway 360. It is down the street from Ameriquest Field in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers. It is also in close proximity to Six Flags over Texas and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. The thought is that once that stadium opens, the Texas-OU game will move there (contract with the Cotton Bowl goes through '10) and there is also talk that the Cotton Bowl game could move there as well. Other possible sporting events that could be held there include; the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and the NBA All-Star game...

[husker rob]

as compared to Memorial stadium, i think that Memorial Stadium is not a very viewer friendly stadium. there are way to many restricted view seats. i am glad that NU has made all of the improvements to the stadium and the facilities but sooner or later a new stadium will need to be built in Lincoln. IMO

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

Is it worse than Folsom Prison errrrrrrr........Stadium or Field or whatever.......

[BIGREDIOWAN]

as compared to Memorial stadium, i think that Memorial Stadium is not a very viewer friendly stadium. there are way to many restricted view seats. i am glad that NU has made all of the improvements to the stadium and the facilities but sooner or later a new stadium will need to be built in Lincoln. IMO

I agree.............

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

as compared to Memorial stadium, i think that Memorial Stadium is not a very viewer friendly stadium. there are way to many restricted view seats. i am glad that NU has made all of the improvements to the stadium and the facilities but sooner or later a new stadium will need to be built in Lincoln. IMO

I agree.............

T Boone Pickens has the stadium named after him after his big donation at Okie State. Warren Buffet Stadium. Someone needs to sing that mantra to him a few million times.

[AV Red]

The Cotton Bowl can be no worse than that piece of crap NU played in out here in Los Angeles this past September. The Coliseum is and has been a pile of crap since the 1980’s when the Rams decided to leave and they have done little to improve it. Anyone who came out and braved the conditions here will surely not find things any worse in Dallas.

 

By the way, I am jeolous of those of you who will be attending the Cotton Bowl. Have fun, and GO BIG RED!!!!

 

I agree with this statement 100%. I haven't been to the Cotton Bowl since the late 1980's, but I still cannot believe its worse than the LA Coliseum. The worst football venue I've ever been in.