We finally have the match-up set for the 2010 NFL Championship. The Green Bay Packers will meet the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 45.
They’ll battle in Arlington, Texas at Cowboys Stadium a.k.a. “Jerry’s World,” “The House that Jerry Built,” “DeathStar,” “Boss Hog Bowl,” “Jones Town,” and “Jones-Mahal.”
The $1.2 Billion palace was financed mostly by Jerry Jones himself, although the taxpayers in the city of Arlington picked up a sizable chunk ($325 million). It costs $18 to take the tour that I experienced, and will now summarize here.
I was fortunate enough to get this behind the scenes tour as part of the Nike Football Media Summit 2010, a phenomenal event and product rollout taking place on the famous new field in Dallas.
It’s the only sports stadium in the world where every team enters through a sports bar. And it’s also where my tour began. The first thing you notice when walking onto the field is the 20-yard line to 20 yard line jumbo-tron that you’ve heard so much about. Yes a 60 yard television! And you can only experience it’s ginormity in person. IT’S SURREAL! because video/screen captures don’t and can’t do it justice.
The 600 ton video board weighs 1.2 million pounds, is 25,000 square feet and sports 30 million LEDs. It would take 2,000 flat screen televisions to fit just one side! It costs $40 million, while the original Texas Stadium, the Cowboys former home, cost $35 million at the time.
For an audio summation of this tour (which the team makes approximately $30,000 a year on giving), and more stadium facts go here
Cowboys Stadium embraces the cliche “everything’s bigger in Texas,” because it’s the world’s largest dome, and the world’s largest structure with which there are no support columns obstructing the view from any seat. The Cowboys are worth more than any team in professional sports and sell 1/4 of all NFL merchandise, so they probably deserve the biggest of cathedrals.
And they have no problem selling out their 80,000 seat stadium, as they are no doubt the pride of Texas.
You’ll notice below a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders coffee table. Yes, that’s what they have in offices here.
And the Cheerleaders locker room is state-of-the-art, probably the best by far of any NFL team. So “America’s Sweethearts” have plenty of room to stretch out their luscious legginess.
For more on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders locker room, and to see more SFW pics from inside the DCC home go here
And since we’re on the topic of “dancing” and “raciness,” have you seen the safe-for-work video of the lap dance by some tramp in the first row of Cowboys Stadium? If not, see this slag in action here
We also visited the press room, which is TWICE the size of the White House press room. Just so you know where American priorities are. To the possible discomfort of our tour guide, I took the podium and had my Media Summitmates take a picture of me doing my Dennis Green, Bill Belichick and Mike Gundy! Wish I had Flipshared it!
And I’m sure the tour guide has heard plenty of others do the “I’M A MAN! I’M 40! GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!” other than myself.
The press box seats 200, and they’ll accommodate an extra 100 for the Super Bowl.
Next they took us to one of the 380 suites in the stadium, the suite Jerry Jones parties in with his chosen 125 top guests. We weren’t allowed to go to his second suite, which is reserved for him, his kids and a much smaller party.
The stadium also sports the world’s largest glass retractable doors, the decision to open/close must be made 2 hours ahead of time. These doors weigh 3 million pounds. As for the retractable roof, the decision to open/close that must be made by the NFL first, Jerry second. And this takes 9 minutes to open.
Finally, the stadium is also houses the Cotton Bowl home office.
For more pics go here
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
He does a weekly radio segment on Chicagoland Sports Radio.com and Cleveland.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank