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Cotton Bowl
Location	1300 Robert B. Cullum Boulevard Fair Park Dallas, Texas, USA
Broke ground	1932
Opened	1932
Owner	City of Dallas
Operator	City of Dallas
Surface	Grass
Tenants
Cotton Bowl (NCAA) (1937-2009) Red River Rivalry (NCAA, Big 12) (1932-2015) Dallas Cowboys (NFL) (1960-1970) Dallas Texans (AFL) (1960-1962) FC Dallas (MLS) (1996-2002, 2004-2005) SMU Mustangs (NCAA) (1929-1986, 1995-2000) Dallas Texans (NFL) (1952) Dallas Tornado (NASL) (1967-1968)
Capacity
76,000

The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1932. Originally known as Fair Park Bowl, 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 seats. Concerts or other events using a stage allow the playing field to be used for additional spectators to a capacity past 80,000. The Cotton Bowl is the home of the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game, for which the stadium is named. However, the game will move to Arlington, Texas, and the Dallas Cowboys New Stadium on New Year's Day 2010.

The Cowboys hosted the Green Bay Packers for the 1966 NFL championship at the Cotton Bowl. Artificial turf was installed in 1970 and removed in 1993 in preparation for the World Cup tournament in 1994.

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), and soccer teams, the Dallas Tornado (NASL; 1967-1968), and FC Dallas (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 annual Texas-Oklahoma college football game, called the Red River Rivalry, is played at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas, instead of a campus site. Ticket sales are equally divided between the two schools. However, the schools had 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 two 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 2015. ^[1]

As a result of this extension, the city of Dallas will allocate $30 million towards an estimated $50 million (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. ^[2]

In addition to the Red River Shootout, Grambling State University and Prairie View A&M University play each other at the Cotton Bowl in the State Fair Classic. This game often occurs the weekend after the Texas-OU game. It is a neutral site for both teams; Grambling (nicknamed the "Tigers") is in northern Louisiana and Prairie View A&M is located about 30 miles northwest of Houston, Texas. The halftime "Battle of the Bands" is arguably more eagerly anticipated than the game itself. The State Fair Classic is heavlily marketed in the DFW Metroplex, with local hip hop stations encouraging a large turnout among the region's African-American community.

On the rare occasion, the stadium has also been the venue where a number of historic music concerts have taken place, most notably that which featured then 21-year-old Elvis Presley, which took place on October 11, 1956 and attracting, as it did, what was then the largest audience in Texas history for an outdoor concert, in excess of 27,000 teenagers.

Many consecutive summers of huge concerts featuring several bands began in July 1978 with the 1st annual Texxas Jam, which sold out with over 80,000 attendees. Over the years the Texxas Jam featured some of the top-billed headliner bands of the day, including Aerosmith, Heart, Rush, Deep Purple, Boston, Journey, Ted Nugent, Scorpions, Loverboy, Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Blue Öyster Cult, Sammy Hagar, Nazareth, Styx, Foghat, Santana, Eagles, Triumph, and others. Each Texxas Jam had a unique lineup of major artists chosen by the promoter. The annual events came to an end in the summer of 1988, when Van Halen headlined the "Monsters Of Rock" tour. Since then, the stadium has continued to be used as a major concert venue; Eric Clapton notably held his first massive 3-day Crossroads Guitar Festival there in 2004.

The stadium was featured in a 1981 episode of Dallas where J.R. Ewing meets Dusty Farlow.

1. ^ Heinbaugh, Chris (2007-04-19). "Texas-OU to stay at Cotton Bowl". Dallas Morning News.
2. ^ Leventhal, Dave (2006-05-12). "Cotton Bowl set for spot on ballot". Dallas Morning News.

• Cotton Bowl - City of Dallas
• Cotton Bowl stadium guide
• Satellite image at Google Maps

v • d • e Current NCAA Division I FBS college football bowl game stadiums

Alamodome (Alamo) • Aloha Stadium (Hawaiʻi, Hula) • Amon G. Carter Stadium (Armed Forces) • AT&T Park (Emerald) • Bank of America Stadium (Meineke) • Bronco Stadium (MPC Computers) • Cotton Bowl (Cotton) • Dolphin Stadium (Orange) • Florida Citrus Bowl (Champs Sports, Capital One) • Ford Field (Motor City) • Galena Park ISD Stadium (North-South Classic) • Georgia Dome (Chick-fil-A) • Independence Stadium (Independence) • Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (Gator)• LP Field (Music City) • Ladd Peebles Stadium (GMAC, Senior) • Legion Field (Papajohns.com) • Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Liberty) • Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, Sugar) • Qualcomm Stadium (Poinsettia, Holiday) • Raymond James Stadium (Outback) • Reliant Stadium (Texas, East-West Shrine) • Rogers Centre (International) • Rose Bowl (Rose) • Sam Boyd Stadium (Las Vegas, All-American) • Sun Bowl Stadium (Sun, Texas v. Nation) • Sun Devil Stadium (Insight) • University Stadium (New Mexico) • University of Phoenix Stadium (Fiesta, BCS Nat'l Champ.)

v • d • e Venues of the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA
Citrus Bowl (Orlando) • Cotton Bowl (Dallas) • Foxboro Stadium (Massachusetts) • Giants Stadium (New York/New Jersey) • Pontiac Silverdome (Detroit) • RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.) • Rose Bowl (Southern California) • Soldier Field (Chicago) • Stanford Stadium (Northern California)

v • d • e Football stadiums of the Big 12 Conference
North Division	Bill Snyder Family Stadium (Kansas State) • Faurot Field (Missouri) • Folsom Field (Colorado) • Jack Trice Stadium (Iowa State) • Memorial Stadium (Kansas) • Memorial Stadium (Nebraska)
South Division	Boone Pickens Stadium (Oklahoma State) • Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (Texas) • Floyd Casey Stadium (Baylor) • Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (Oklahoma) • Jones AT&T Stadium (Texas Tech) • Kyle Field (Texas A&M)

Preceded by first stadium

Home of the Dallas Cowboys 1960–October 11, 1971

Succeeded by Texas Stadium October 24, 1971–2008

Preceded by first stadium

Home of the Dallas Texans 1960–1962

Succeeded by Municipal Stadium 1963–1971

Preceded by first stadium

Home of the Dallas Burn 1996–2002

Succeeded by Dragon Stadium 2003

Preceded by Dragon Stadium 2003

Home of the Dallas Burn/ FC Dallas 2004–2005

Succeeded by Pizza Hut Park 2005–present

Preceded by first stadium

Home of the Cotton Bowl 1937–2009

Succeeded by Dallas Cowboys New Stadium 2010–

Preceded by Rich Stadium 1990

Host of the Drum Corps International World Championship 1991

Succeeded by Camp Randall Stadium 1992

32°46′46.56″N, 96°45′34.56″WCoordinates: 32°46′46.56″N, 96°45′34.56″W