Are You Ready for Some Football? Part One

Are You Ready for Some Football? Part One November 25, 2015

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It’s only appropriate at Turkey Day time that we speak of that other religion in America that is celebrated on that day— I’m referring to football of course, and the epicenter of football mania is of course Texas. Shoot, even High School ball is on TV down there with regularity. And of course it is also true that ‘everything is bigger in Texas’. Take for example the stadium you see depicted above (N.B. all these pictures are taken by your truly). During a recent visit to do an event in Texas, my gracious hosts from Marvin UMC indulged my curiosity by stopping off at what I prefer to call ‘the little house that Jerry built’, otherwise known as AT+T stadium, a stadium in which one could easily put one of the pyramids, were you of a mind to do so (and no…. Dr. Carson, they were not grain silos!, they were tombs). This stadium is the largest indoor stadium on the planet, and according to the testimony of the Monday football guys who have done stadiums here and abroad, including Olympic stadiums, it is easily the best of the bunch. My hosts and I did the dee—luxe tour of the stadium (you have to pronounce things in an appropriate way in Texas)and it will be the subject of a few posts.

The first thing to know about the stadium is that it will seat about 90,000 for a concert, and 80 something thousand for a game, but there are standing room only places in the concourses behind and above both end zones which could take the number of paying customers up to over 100,000. The second thing to know is that this stadium was completed in 2009, and it was intended for all sorts of sporting and entertainment events. For instance, below is the fellow who did the first concert in the Jones dome….
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There have been Super Bowls and Final Fours already held here, and here are a few performers at a Super Bowl half time show. See if you can name them….
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Just so you know, I’ve also performed on the field at this stadium, witness the picture of Ben the Blur below….dall5
That crowned field is actually pretty spongy and soft, to my surprise, and yes I both completed a pass, and caught one on the field. The dee-luxe tours allow all sorts of personal adventures, as you will begin to see. For example, we got to visit both the Cowboys and the Cowgirls locker rooms (no, they were not present at the time). Here are some shots to prove it…
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Believe it or not, this stadium has four above ground levels, AND four below ground levels with the locker rooms below ground, and at field level. And how much did this little extravaganza cost? Well, about the GNP of several small countries put together, it was well over 1 billion dollars, and when there were cost over-runs, Mr. Jones stepped in and wrote a personal check for the overage, namely for $660 million dollars. Yes, you heard me right. He did not pay in Confederate dollars either, even though he is an old Southern boy who spent time in Arkansas and Texas, among other places. We’ll say more about all this in the next fun posts while you’re eating your biscuits and gravy, and stuffing and cranberry sauce.


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