Texas billionaire Jerry Jones' new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium will once again place Texas at the center of the sports world map on March 13th when Manny Pacquiao faces Joshua Clottey.
Antiquity brought its architectural glory to ancient life: the Colossus of Rhodes - a stunning statue of the Greek god Helios - on the Greek island of Rhodes nearly 2,300 years ago. Then the breathtaking Lighthouse of Alexandria in ancient Egypt, saving the sea navigators who at the time but had only the night stars to rely upon for guidance, as among the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The modern world's contribution to architectural marvel is Cowboys Stadium. There is of course the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Great Wall in China, among others.
Texas is the biggest state in the continental United States, and the second largest state next to Alaska. Driving from Houston, Texas to West Texas - say El Paso, Texas - often takes over 11 hours at 75 miles per hour (mph).
Cowboys Stadium - as the name implies - is home of "America's Team," the Dallas Cowboys and its world famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
It houses more than 100,000 seats - for the Pacquiao vs Clottey showdown, close to 50,000 seats will be prepared to host Fight fans, southern-based fans, hispanic fans, Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, everyone.
Sure, the stadium is outfitted with the modern technologies of any new sports facility. Except this one houses the world's largest big screen television which cost Mr. Jones $40 million.
That's one expensive tv. Hopefully, the antenna works well on March 13th. Is there a single electrical plug for this television?
The stadium is so massive that there are 10 entrances.
Outsized Costs >
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is listed as no. 196 on Forbe’s list of richest Americans. The construction began in 2006 and originally had an estimated cost of over $500 million. Costs escalated. A lot.
The construction cost of $1.2 billion became plausible as Arlington voters increased the city’s sale tax by 0.5%, hotel occupancy tax by 2% and car rental tax by 5%.
The city of Arlington was able to provide $325 million in additional funding. The NFL also gave their share and provided the Cowboys $150 million for stadium financing.
The naming rights to the stadium also had a story behind them. A lot of fans referred to it as “Jerry world” or “Jerry dome” or “Jones town”. There was a petition that the new stadium be named after longtime cowboys’ coach Tom Landry. However, Jerry Jones announced that the official name would be “Cowboys Stadium”.
The NBA All-Star Game was held in Cowboys Stadium on February 14. Jones sees more high profile events in the future. And why not? The stadium is likely a negative cash flow machine given the outsized operating costs. The Texas businessman may be losing lots of dough on this world wonder.
The Dallas Cowboys can only play a maximum of eight regular season games there per season. You do the math. $1.2 billion. Financing (debt). Operating costs.
Following the March 13th fight, the new Cowboys Stadium will be hosting the Monster Energy AMA Supercross FIM World Championship on March 20, 2010. Jones - and Arlington taxpayers - need more big time events at the behemoth facility. It is a behemoth money burner.
Author: Marv Dumon
Source: examiner.com
No comments:
Post a Comment