The Dallas Parks and Recreation Board (DPRB) yesterday
"got its first look" at "plans being developed" by the
Dallas 2012 Olympic Committee and Dallas architects HKS that
"would tear down" the Cotton Bowl and build a new 80,000-
seat facility on the "existing site" in Fair Park, according
to Mede Nix of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, who writes that
DPRB members "were generally supportive of the idea. Dallas
2012 spokesperson Michael Sorrell said that bid organizers
"will need an answer later this year about whether the city
generally supports the plan before the bid is submitted" to
the USOC on December 15 (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/10). In
Dallas, Michael Saul notes that the new stadium would have a
retractable roof and "marks the most ambitious and costly
initiative since the city began its quest" in '98 for the
2012 Games. Though committee officials declined to "specify
how much the plan might cost," member John Scovell said that
the committee "has no intention of asking taxpayers to foot
the bill," which would "probably exceed" $250M "just for the
new stadium" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/10).