GlobeStadiums

The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1932. It is located in Fair Park, site of the State Fair in Dallas, Texas, USA. It has a natural grass surface and a capacity of 68,252. The name is a pun on “cotton boll”.

The stadium has been home to many football teams over the years, including: SMU Mustangs (NCAA), Dallas Cowboys (NFL; 1960-1970), Dallas Texans (NFL) (1952), Kansas City Chiefs (as the Dallas Texans) (AFL; 1960-1962), the Dallas Tornado (NASL; 1967-1968), and FC Dallas (as the Dallas Burn before 2005) (Major League Soccer; 1996-2002, 2004-2005). It was also the site of some games in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

The Cotton Bowl also hosts the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game, for which the stadium is named.

Also, the annual Texas-Oklahoma college football game, called “The Red River Rivalry”, is played here during the State Fair of Texas, instead of a campus site. Ticket sales are equally divided between the two schools. However, the schools have announced plans to discontinue playing the game at the Cotton Bowl after 2007, citing major problems with the aging facility, and to instead move the game to a traditional home-and-away series (the schools have not expressed interest in moving the game to either Texas Stadium or the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium once it opens, citing the State Fair as the chief reason for holding the game in Dallas).

However, amidst the ideas about moving from the Cotton Bowl, both schools have recently approved a deal with the Cotton Bowl to continue playing “The Red River Rivalry” at the Cotton Bowl until 2010. As a result of this extension, the city of Dallas will allocating $30 million dollars towards an estimated $50 million dollar (at least part of the final total could possibly come from a sale of the naming rights for the stadium) renovation from an upcoming city bond proposal for several modifications and updates to the stadium. These proposed renovations include expanding the seating capacity of the stadium from 76,000 to 92,107, new media and VIP facilities, a new scoreboard, updated restrooms and concession areas, lighting, utility and sound upgrades and the replacement of the stadium’s seats.

[Source: Wikipedia]