N. Texas Super Bowl could set ticket sales record

[Billy Barooooooo]

N. Texas Super Bowl could set ticket sales record


NFL.com wire reports



DALLAS (May 23, 2007) -- It appears the $1 billion the Dallas Cowboys spent on their new stadium is the key number that swayed NFL owners to award North Texas the 2011 Super Bowl.

From hotel rooms to golf courses, plenty of figures were included in the winning bid made public Wednesday.

The sleek, state-of-the-start facility promises to seat at least 93,221 fans for the Super Bowl and provide the chance for a record $93 million in ticket sales, according to the lengthy proposal bid submitted by the North Texas Super Bowl Committee.

The proposal was earlier distributed to NFL owners, who selected Arlington on Tuesday to host the Super Bowl in 2011, two years after the Cowboys open their stadium nestled between Dallas and Fort Worth. Indianapolis and Glendale, Ariz., were the other finalists.

"We're going to get into it pretty fast," Pro Football Hall of Famer Roger Staubach, chairman of the North Texas committee, said after returning from the NFL owner's meeting in Nashville, Tenn.

In the bid, the North Texas group promised 90,000 hotel rooms for fans, more than 11,000 luxury hotel rooms for NFL use, and 38,000 area restaurants. The pitch also boasts neighboring Mexico and North Texas' ability to expose the game to a growing Hispanic fan base.

The bid, hundreds of pages long, is mostly a checklist of amenities and fixtures the NFL demands for a Super Bowl host city. Required are first-class golf courses nearby (check); 10,000 available rental cars (check); and permission for surrounding bars and restaurants to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. after the game (no, but the NFL is free to petition the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission).

But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' vision of hosting a Super Bowl with more than 100,000 fans might have been the clincher. In addition to the more than 93,000 guaranteed seats, the Cowboys believe they can fit more than 14,000 additional fans in other parts of the 2.3-million-square-foot facility.

Only four of 41 Super Bowls -- none since 1987 -- had six-figure attendance, all at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

The North Texas group also promised the NFL access to a record 150 luxury suites, use of the Dallas Convention Center for its NFL Experience event, and use of TCU's facilities for the AFC team to practice. The NFC champion will practice at the Cowboys' Valley Ranch headquarters in Irving, according to the proposal.

Staubach said one of his first priorities will be assembling a staff to study other Super Bowl host cities. Shuttling fans between Arlington and neighboring cities is also a concern, because Arlington is the largest city in the country without public transportation.

"We'll get a handle on the transportation because that's going to be a big part of it," Staubach said.

The Super Bowl will be the third played in Texas. Houston has hosted the other two, once at Rice Stadium in 1974, and again at Reliant Stadium 30 years later. The Cowboys currently play at Texas Stadium in Irving, but they will move into the building in 2009.