[jtk1519]

I didn't see a thread about this one either. Serious expansion and remodeling is currently underway. Much of the work that is being done is to improve restrooms, concourses, etc., but the stadium is also being expanded from an official capacity of around 68,000 (though 80,000 attend the Texas/Oklahoma game) to an official capacity of over 92,000. The new seats are coming from second decks that are being built on the North and South sides of the stadium. I believe the goal is for the new upper decks to connect with the old ones to form one, continuous upper bowl.

The Cotton Bowl pre-expansion...

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9807/100sr1.jpg
http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/briefings1107/FairParkComprehensivePlanUpdate_110507.pdf
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Red_River_Shootout_2006.jpg/800px-Red_River_Shootout_2006.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Bowl_(stadium)

The plans...

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3103/000qa5.jpg
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/401/001ho6.jpg
http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/briefings1107/FairParkComprehensivePlanUpdate_110507.pdf
http://www.heery.com/portfolio/L2Images/CB_wireframe_mp.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/TexFight/InteriorElevation.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/TexFight/CottonBowlOverallFloorplan.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/TexFight/Elevation2022.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/TexFight/CottonBowlElevation.jpg
pic credit: rantanamo on dallasmetropolis.com
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php?t=6116&page=15

The progress...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2089/2286347825_4e2d67d3db_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2252/2286347783_735e663f2b_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3042/2287134894_678bb33113_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2286347381_f2fcb56a73_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2126/2286347197_cb8906f83b_o.jpg
pic credit: rantanamo on dallasmetropolis.com
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php?t=6116&page=15

[matthew2109]

oh wow. So the dallas area will sport two huge stadiums now??

[SkyWatcher]

Wow, I had no idea they were adding that many seats. I was one of over 75,000 attending the first Texas Jam in 1978...I guess now in a concert setting the numbers would top 100,000. Very cool.

Wonder who will be the first to play in the new stadium? Will it be a concert or a bowl game?

[JJG]

oh wow. So the dallas area will sport two huge stadiums now??

Really? I thought this would be the only huge stadium in the Dallas area... since the New Cowboys Stadium will be in the Ft. Worth/Arlington area....

[SkyWatcher]

Well if you really want to get technical it isn't in the FW area at all. It's in Arlington. The Dallas area is usually interpreted to mean the entire DFW region.

[JJG]

The Dallas area is usually interpreted to mean the entire DFW region.

Ugh.... Don't remind me. I'm just so sick of that....
Hopefuly, that will change in a few years.

[jtk1519]

Dallas = DFW. Haters can just deal with it.

[JJG]

:previous: ....Well in that case, Ft. Worth, Arlington, Plano, Irving, and all the others are DFW. Because I'm not with the whole "DFW is one city (Dallas)" deal.

Maybe everyone else says it, but I wont. I'm not tryin' to start a DFW civil war, here. I'm just saying, it's hard to ignore when your city or area isn't called what it's supposed to be called. That's all.

Anyway, it's a beautiful stadium, and it's good to see the progress. Anyone who questions why DFW got the Super Bowl over Indy is insane.

[artvandelay]

What is the reason behind this expansion, isn't the Cotton Bowl game moving to the new Cowboys stadium?

[JJG]

Anyway, it's a beautiful stadium, and it's good to see the progress. Anyone who questions why DFW got the Super Bowl over Indy is insane.

Uhh... wrong stadium. Woops.
The COTTON BOWL, will look better. Of course I was talking about the Cowboys Stadium, but that's a different thread.

I guess the Cotton Bowl is expanding is becuase... THAT STADIUM IS LONG OVERDUE FOR SOME KIND OF MAKEOVER.

[texcolo]

I thought they were going to turn it into a dome at one point???

[JJG]

I thought they were going to turn it into a dome at one point???

It was rumored....
Apparently that plan has been thrown out.

[jtk1519]

Some updated April and May pics...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/2444152538_1a72153c7f_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/2444152620_1f0b687c38_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2299/2463087840_b96b3ed70a_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/2462253505_d5d31e048e_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/2463088754_600441db41_o.jpg

All pics from http://www.flickr.com/photos/23657956@N07/

[njjeppson]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2747535861_39dc872ab1_o.jpg

more:
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showpost.php?p=298887&postcount=839

[NThomas]

Park Board Approves Selling Naming Rights to Cotton Bowl
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2008/09/breaking_news_park_board_appro.php
For years, folks have whispered that perhaps one day, the city might consider selling the naming rights to the 76-year-old Cotton Bowl in Fair Park. After all, maintaining The House That Doak Built is an expensive proposition with, some would insist, dwindling rewards hardly worth the $50 million worth of just-completed upgrades...

This isn't the first time it's been brought up. Its just the first time its been seriously considered.

From a 2005 WFAA (http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/local/stories/120605dnmetcottonbowl.4358e286.html) report:
A sale of stadium-naming rights would fund most or all of the first of two project phases, the funding of which the State Fair of Texas would front.

[FerrariEnzo]

(Quote:
Originally Posted by texcolo
I thought they were going to turn it into a dome at one point???

It was rumored....
Apparently that plan has been thrown out.)

Thrown out? You mean when they figured out your in texas and dont need a dome? oh right.

[jtk1519]

Revamped Cotton Bowl makes Texas-OU bigger than ever
Dallas completes $57 million restoration of stadium.

By Mark Rosner
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, September 18, 2008

DALLAS — This isn't your grandfather's Cotton Bowl, or Jed Clampett's Cotton Bowl. Not anymore.

When fans of Texas and Oklahoma football walk into the 76-year-old stadium on Oct. 11, they will find functioning restrooms — and more of them. They will have new concession stands. And with 16,100 additional seats, most of them in upper decks behind each end zone, this year's Red River shootout will be the biggest ever.

The Cotton Bowl now seats 92,100, nearly twice the 46,200 capacity when it first opened.

"It was an older, tired stadium," Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said Wednesday. "This ended decades of neglect."

The improvements are part of a $57 million renovation by the City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas aimed at keeping the Longhorns and Sooners from moving their annual game to campus stadiums or the Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington.

Dallas celebrated Wednesday with a gathering on the Cotton Bowl field that civic leaders turned into a pep rally.

"This is picture-perfect," said Pete Schenkel, former chairman of the State Fair of Texas. "We have a touch of fall in the air. There's a bright Texas sun shining down on a beautiful stadium."

Schenkel said he recently took a phone call from Mack Brown after the Longhorns' coach had passed over the Cotton Bowl on a flight out of Love Field in Dallas.

"He said he looked down and saw this beautiful stadium," Schenkel said. "As soon as he hit the ground in Austin, he called and said, 'I'm excited about coming to the Cotton Bowl.' "

Schenkel helped negotiate a contract that will keep the Texas-Oklahoma game at the Cotton Bowl through 2015.

"As long as we take care of our stadium, put money back into it, we can count on Oklahoma and Texas staying here for many years," Schenkel said. "There is no reason in the world for them to leave."

Schenkel said the schools wanted assurances of improved restrooms and concession stands, and a lot more seats to accommodate fans.

Under the new deal, each school receives $4.35 million, $1 million more than last year. The schools each have 46,000 tickets to distribute, according to a UT spokesman.

Fans who contributed a minimum of $150 to the Longhorn Foundation were eligible for tickets to the game this year, the spokesman said. Last year the cutoff was $800.

Fans will notice new common areas behind the end zones for socializing and refurbished concourses. The upper deck now wraps around the entire stadium. The majority of the aluminum benches have flip-down, chair-back seats.

Players will find expanded locker rooms. Coaches will have their own locker rooms. The mayor and others hope to use those locker rooms for several other annual games during the State Fair.

The Cotton Bowl is still the venue for Prairie View A&M vs. Grambling, this year on Oct. 4. Texas A&M-Commerce and East Central (Okla.) University will begin a series on Oct. 18, but Oct. 25 is available for an annual series.

Leppert would not say which schools are in discussions with the Cotton Bowl, but Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are considering playing annually in either the Cotton Bowl or at the Cowboys' new stadium, which opens in 2009.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/sports/stories/longhorns/09/18/0918cotton.html?UrAuth=%60NXNUObN

[jtk1519]

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1488/003jv1.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7724/001pn4.jpg

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/3841/002pu5.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7749/004gn8.jpg

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/716/005kq5.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/ap/mediahub/media/slideshow/index.jsp?tId=119608

[donclark]

What is the reason behind this expansion, isn't the Cotton Bowl game moving to the new Cowboys stadium?

Yes, the Cotton Bowl game is moving to the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington. Jerry Jones has also confirmed a neutral site Arkansas vs Texas A&M game as well.

The Cotton Bowl is being renovated and enlarged to keep the neutral site Oklahoma vs Texas game during the Texas State Fair. Ever since Dallas stole the State Fair, Dallas has always done what is necessary to keep the State Fair. Several bond programs over the years have passed on the understanding, What is good for the State Fair is good for Dallas. The Texas State Fair is three weeks long, over four weekends. Nothing books the hotel rooms in Dallas better. Without the improvements, and the huge number of fans who show up at the Fair, the State Fair would have been hurt somewhat. The Oklahoma and Texas home stadiums have been improved to the point where Dallas had to improve their stadium to keep the teams from going home and away, to sweeten the pot.

With Oklahoma-Texas, Grambling and Texas Southern, the Cotton Bowl hopes to attract a Oklahoma State vs Texas Tech neutral site game as well for the third weekend. Its not too cold for football games to be held in Dallas during October, unlike January 1st some years. Of course, Arlington is attempting to get this game too, if it comes to the Dallas area.

[jtk1519]

The expansion is complete and after the Red River Rivalry played there last week in front of over 92,000, I have heard nothing but raving reviews about the stadium. Even many who had previously supported moving the game to Jerryworld or home and home have changed their minds. There is no setting in all of college football quite like the Cotton Bowl at the State Fair of Texas...

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/649/99041696in2.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFOhtsBzHI/AAAAAAAAKpw/U8nA7Hw6-PU/s912/DSC02713.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFOpRZPMRI/AAAAAAAAKqY/is2ADgffchY/s912/DSC02737.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFOrnC-i-I/AAAAAAAAKqg/qUMzH1sGfNg/s912/DSC02750.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPCpVQLoI/AAAAAAAAKsM/tMHsv1AkzaY/s912/DSC02792.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPFpqWuxI/AAAAAAAAKsU/JXaG1RVCvWs/s912/DSC02794.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPZpL4ZuI/AAAAAAAAKto/QPqGNUNe66k/s912/DSC02870.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPboXGaAI/AAAAAAAAKtw/rxk50j6yxok/s912/DSC02877.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPfu8p8vI/AAAAAAAAKuA/4RziRx-MaYk/s912/DSC02909.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPgrNFrDI/AAAAAAAAKuM/d8dUU2PEoYQ/s912/DSC02910.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/mugsydog/SPFPiAC0qZI/AAAAAAAAKuU/BThpgNwIPoc/s912/DSC02915.JPG

http://picasaweb.google.com/mugsydog/20081011TexasOU#