Year opened: 1930
Capacity: 92,100, up from 72,000 when the Cowboys played there and 45,000 at opening
Names:
Fair Park Bowl, 1930-36
Cotton Bowl, 1936 to date
Pro football tenants:
Dallas Rams (AFL), 1934
Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952
Dallas Cowboys (NFL), 1960-71
Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960-62
Postseason games hosted:
NFL Championship, Packers 34 Cowboys 27, Jan. 1, 1967
NFL Eastern Conf. Championship, Cowboys 52 Browns 14, Dec. 24, 1967
NFL Eastern Conf. Championship, Browns 38 Cowboys 14, Dec. 28, 1969
NFC Divisional playoff, Cowboys 5 Lions 0, Dec. 26, 1970
Other tenants of note:
Southern Methodist University (college football), 1932-78, 95-2000
Dallas Tornado (NASL), 1967-68
Dallas Burn/FC Dallas (MLS), 1996-2002, 04-05
Notes: Hosted first two home games of Cowboys’ 1971 season before they moved to Texas Stadium in Irving. Hosted annual Cotton Bowl Classic, 1937-2009. Hosts annual Red River Shootout/Rivalry college football game between Univ. of Oklahoma and Univ. of Texas, 1932 to date. Hosts annual Dallas Independent School District Football Playoffs, 1974 to date. Hosted TicketCity Bowl, 2011. Used as a venue for FIFA World Cup, 1994. Referred to as “The House That Doak Built” due to expansions in 1940s that increased capacity to 60,000 to accommodate crowds who came to see SMU’s Heisman-winning halfback Doak Walker in action. Stadium is located at the state fairgrounds and replaced the Fair Park Football Stadium, which had stood at the same location. The grass field of 1930 to ’69 was replaced with AstroTurf from 1970 to ’93 before returning to grass in 1994.
Fate: Still in use following three major renovations, most recently in 2008.
(more recent view of stadium below, showing expansion that has completely enclosed the upper deck)
[Updated 2/16/15]
