New stadium is too much - $66 for 12 pack beer, $90 pizza [View All]

[The Straight Story]

Steven M. Sipple: New stadium is too much


DALLAS — Nobody asked, but I’m adamantly opposed to making Jerry Jones’ new $1.2 billion playpen the permanent home of the Big 12 football championship game.

That said, I would understand if the conference’s board of directors are a teensy-weensy tempted to do so. After all, human frailty dictates that we occasionally can be swayed by opulence, which is what I saw Tuesday during a tour of the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington, Texas.

I saw the definition of American excess, and it was simultaneously magnificent and borderline disgusting in its lavishness.

Located in Arlington, Texas, it’s the new home for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

The new stadium is already reserved for the 2009 and 2010 Big 12 Championship games, 2011 Super Bowl, 2010 NBA All-Star Game, 2014 NCAA Final Four and a handful of college football games. It’s also the new home of the Cotton Bowl.

If you’re looking for Memorial Stadium-style character and old-school charm, you won’t find it at Cowboys Stadium.

....

“But they haven’t seen this.”

You almost have to see it to believe it. There are carpeted hallways throughout the arena. Padded leather seats in sections other than suites. An 18,000-square-foot gift shop. Cowboyrita drinks for 14 bucks a pop. A total of 3,000 Sony high-definition televisions throughout the arena, with plans to add 2,000 more before the 2011 Super Bowl.

Tuesday’s tour took our group into a suite that can be leased for $800,000 a year — which doesn’t include the price of game or event tickets but does offer a large pizza for $90 (no toppings), 12-packs of domestic beer for $66 apiece and a four-pack of Red Bull for $22, among other ridiculously priced items.

http://huskerextra.com/articles/2009/07/30/football/doc4a70d724e835b234473867.txt

And they rich complain they pay too much in taxes....