It's taken decades in the making but Dallas Cowboys, or better known to some as America's Team has a new Texas-sized home. Taking the slogan, "Everything's bigger in Texas" to heart, this new Arlington stadium has an approved seating capacity of 111,000, including staff. The entire stadium site covers 73 acres and the stadium itself is 3 million square feet. http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/assets/pdf/mediaArchitectureFactSheet.pdf

The stadium opened its massive doors to fans on June 6th, 2009 for its first headline event. Country music sensations George Straight, Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Lee Ann Womack, and King George took to the stage and delivered a 105-minute music performance to a sold-out crowd. The arena wasn’t easy to sell out at 60,000 available seats. http://www.kerrydean.com/music/george-strait-concert-opens-new-dallas-cowboys-stadium/

Since its opening, there have been a few complaints from fans about the pricing for seats. In fact, it's been calculated that an average family of four could spend anywhere up to $700 a game.http://www.star-telegram.com/2009/08/20/1550178/at-new-stadium-dallas-cowboys.html With a larger venue, the organization has accrued new costs that ticket payers are finding themselves paying for.

The stadium construction was estimated at roughly $1 billion dollars. It features a sliding lid roof, a 60-yard-long and 50-foot-high scoreboard that hangs over the football field. One of the more eye-catching features is the glass exterior that glows blue and silver during the day then silver and blue at night. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2695427 Other features include retractable glass doors on the ends, steel arches that run through the field, and a television screen that sits at the 20-yard line. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2695427 One of the stadium’s most distinct features is its retractable roof. The roof is designed to imitate the previous Texas Stadium, which is recognized throughout the world and allows inward and outward views of the arena. Each panel on the roof can open or close within 12 minutes. Additionally, the entire playing field can be seen directly above and the opening alone is visible from an elevation of 5 miles. http://texas.construction.com/projects/0706_TP1-5.pdf

During their first game at the new stadium, the Tennessee Titans exposed a huge flaw in the new stadium. Reserve punter A.J Trapasso hit the massive HD screen that hangs over the field during the game. The punt occured with 8:07 left on the clock in the third quarter. Visibly angry, coach Jeff Fisher threw his red challenge flag then headed toward the field to talk to referee Walt Anderson before fourth down was replayed.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shrugged the incident off stating he didn't think it is now or could be an issue. Jones feels the board as an "entertainment value" so the teams will have to rise above it.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4415658

Unfortunately, Fisher didn't see it that way. After the game he continued to state that it is a problem and needs to be addressed for future games.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4415658