MySA.COM: Jones expects new stadium to inspire players
By Tom Orsborn - Express-News
ARLINGTON — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has built a palace. Now he expects the players to honor it with efforts befitting football's grandest venue.
In a sun-splashed ceremony that included fireworks, skydivers and a soaring orchestral score, a beaming Jones helped cut the ribbon at Cowboys Stadium on Wednesday, opening a 3 million-square foot building a team spokesman said has a final price tag of $1.150 billion.
An invitation-only crowd of 1,500, including government officials and several of the franchise's former stars, watched intently as the opening of the giant glass end-zone doors punctuated the event.
Jones equated the satisfaction he gained from building the stadium to winning a Super Bowl, something the Cowboys did for him three times in the 1990s.
Now he's hopeful Cowboys Stadium will help the current team add another Lombardi Trophy.
“This building could have been built for two-thirds of the cost, but it was about expectations,” Jones said. “And I expect every player who ever walks on this field to play above their level.”
The stadium drew rave reviews from former players, including Drew Pearson, a star receiver in the 1970s.
“I was totally wowed and totally awed by it,” Pearson said. “It just makes me wish we could set the clock back a little bit and I could strap on the hat and lace the cleats and get some action in this stadium, because this is beautiful.”
Like Jones, Pearson is hopeful the new stadium will bring out the best in today's players.
“Man, if these guys got any sense, it would inspire them, motivate them to be better players, to give more, to try to do everything they can to stay a Dallas Cowboy throughout their career,” Pearson said. “... Hopefully, that translates into victories.”
Pearson said Cowboys Stadium, site of the 2011 Super Bowl, would be the envy of the league.
“All you have to do is look at Terrell Owens,” said Pearson, referring to the former Dallas receiver released in March after a season in which he was at the center of a locker room drama. “You think he'd rather be here or in Buffalo?
“It tells me a lot about him. He couldn't keep it together enough to make it one more year to be a part of this. Now he's in Buffalo. That's what happens when you sometimes run your pass routes with your lips instead of your legs.”
After the ceremony, Jones proudly pointed out to reporters some of the stadium's features.
“Look at that finish on that concrete block,” Jones said. “(It cost) 25 cents a square foot just to buff it, not paint. ... You did things of that nature all the way through this thing and you do it enough and it adds up. And then all of a sudden, it's got a quality to it.”
Pearson said he was impressed with the proximity of the seats to the field, one of several design elements that mirrors Texas Stadium.
“A lot of these new stadiums, they build them so big and wide they loose a lot of the closeness, a lot of the crowd noise, the ambience, the environment that makes it special to play in,” Pearson said. “They didn't lose that here. The field-level suites are right there. As a matter of fact, if the players get a little bored or have to go to the bathroom they don't have to go to the locker room, they can go right to the suite.”
Jones didn't deny that sales of luxury suites have been slow during the recession. He said 280 have been sold, leaving more than 20 to go.
“I sold one today,” Jones said with a smile.
ARLINGTON — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has built a palace. Now he expects the players to honor it with efforts befitting football's grandest venue.
In a sun-splashed ceremony that included fireworks, skydivers and a soaring orchestral score, a beaming Jones helped cut the ribbon at Cowboys Stadium on Wednesday, opening a 3 million-square foot building a team spokesman said has a final price tag of $1.150 billion.
An invitation-only crowd of 1,500, including government officials and several of the franchise's former stars, watched intently as the opening of the giant glass end-zone doors punctuated the event.
Jones equated the satisfaction he gained from building the stadium to winning a Super Bowl, something the Cowboys did for him three times in the 1990s.
Now he's hopeful Cowboys Stadium will help the current team add another Lombardi Trophy.
“This building could have been built for two-thirds of the cost, but it was about expectations,” Jones said. “And I expect every player who ever walks on this field to play above their level.”
The stadium drew rave reviews from former players, including Drew Pearson, a star receiver in the 1970s.
“I was totally wowed and totally awed by it,” Pearson said. “It just makes me wish we could set the clock back a little bit and I could strap on the hat and lace the cleats and get some action in this stadium, because this is beautiful.”
Like Jones, Pearson is hopeful the new stadium will bring out the best in today's players.
“Man, if these guys got any sense, it would inspire them, motivate them to be better players, to give more, to try to do everything they can to stay a Dallas Cowboy throughout their career,” Pearson said. “... Hopefully, that translates into victories.”
Pearson said Cowboys Stadium, site of the 2011 Super Bowl, would be the envy of the league.
“All you have to do is look at Terrell Owens,” said Pearson, referring to the former Dallas receiver released in March after a season in which he was at the center of a locker room drama. “You think he'd rather be here or in Buffalo?
“It tells me a lot about him. He couldn't keep it together enough to make it one more year to be a part of this. Now he's in Buffalo. That's what happens when you sometimes run your pass routes with your lips instead of your legs.”
After the ceremony, Jones proudly pointed out to reporters some of the stadium's features.
“Look at that finish on that concrete block,” Jones said. “(It cost) 25 cents a square foot just to buff it, not paint. ... You did things of that nature all the way through this thing and you do it enough and it adds up. And then all of a sudden, it's got a quality to it.”
Pearson said he was impressed with the proximity of the seats to the field, one of several design elements that mirrors Texas Stadium.
“A lot of these new stadiums, they build them so big and wide they loose a lot of the closeness, a lot of the crowd noise, the ambience, the environment that makes it special to play in,” Pearson said. “They didn't lose that here. The field-level suites are right there. As a matter of fact, if the players get a little bored or have to go to the bathroom they don't have to go to the locker room, they can go right to the suite.”
Jones didn't deny that sales of luxury suites have been slow during the recession. He said 280 have been sold, leaving more than 20 to go.
“I sold one today,” Jones said with a smile.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:10 PM
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