Cowboys Stadium Takes Center Stage At Pacquiao-Clottey Bout

Pacquiao-Clottey Fight On Saturday Will Be First Bout At Dallas Cowboys Stadium

The two stars of Saturday's Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey bout are not the fighters themselves, but rather "Pacquiao and Cowboys Stadium," according to Bernard Fernandez of the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS. There will be "other big-fight nights" at the stadium after Saturday's bout, the first in the new facility, and Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones has "made it clear he will be bidding for his share of them." Jones: "We want big fights here. This is the first step to do that. We're going to make this one of the most interesting fights to view that's ever been. We're going to have some fun with it. ... I'm excited we could get a fight like this here because I know what boxing can mean to our stadium. I really think that we could be a special place for fights" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 3/9). Jones said of the bout, "It needs the pageantry of the crowd. It needs the pageantry of the Coliseum of Rome. That can come across on television and there will be millions of people watching it on pay per view, but millions and millions watch it worldwide, so we want our stadium to help make the event." He added that "reaching the Hispanic community with boxing and promoting the Cowboys offers a side benefit to the bout." Meanwhile, Top Rank Chair Bob Arum said that the 45,000 seats "allotted for the fight means a cheaper ticket for boxing fans." Tickets start at $50 and "top out at $700 rather than the $1,200 for ringside in Las Vegas." Arum: "I would swap a lesser gate to get more people, because to get more people and have people witness boxing live and in person only grows the sport. And if we go back to Vegas all the time and we put these fights before the casino customers, we're not expanding the base. We're not doing really anything to grow the sport. And it's as ludicrous as having the Super Bowl in the same city every year. The Super Bowl wouldn't be the Super Bowl if it was played in the same arena year in and year out. Boxing does itself no favors bringing every big fight to Las Vegas. That's no good for the sport" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/9).

DIPPING HIS TOES IN: In Ft. Worth, Jan Hubbard notes while Jones last week said that he "would like to have an Olympic swimming qualifying meet at Cowboys Stadium," he admitted that "right now, it is only a wild vision." Jones said of his plans for installing a pool, "Picture simplistically taking that entire lower event level and putting in a type of container that would (be made of) forms of plastic and filing it up with water. Start at the bottom of (the front row seats) and you could fill it right up to the seat." He noted the Cowboys "aren't very close" to moving forward with that plan. But he added, "You asked me to envision. That's about as much sophistication as went in the initial thoughts on that videoboard (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/9).

ROAD SHOW: Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe yesterday said that the conference "isn't ready to declare permanent sites for its championships in football, basketball and baseball." Beebe: "I think we're still in the mode of just looking at the best possible sites, but we're not considering permanency with identifying any particular sites at this point in time." Cowboys Stadium has been mentioned as a "possible longtime destination" for the Big 12 football championship; the facility hosted the game "for the first time in 2009 and will do so again this season." Future site selection "on a five-year timetable could emerge from the June conference meetings" in K.C. (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/9).