Jerry Jones Accepts Partial Responsibility For Super Bowl Seating Issues

Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, in his "first public comments since the Super Bowl seating fiasco at Cowboys Stadium," Friday said that he "shares responsibility for what happened to hundreds of fans who couldn't get proper seating," according to Calvin Watkins of ESPN DALLAS. Jones: "I do, along with the NFL, take responsibility for the seating issue and some of the things that we would like to improve on regarding the seating issues." He added the stadium was "designed for the flexibility of temporary seating." Watkins noted the Super Bowl "ended a terrible week for the North Texas area," as an "ice storm and a blizzard in the same week left roads unsafe and forced the closing of schools and businesses." But Jones said that there were "many positive aspects surrounding the game," and he is "confident North Texas will get the right to host another Super Bowl in the future." Jones added that "other than the seating and weather issues," he "thought the North Texas area came off looking good and was proud of the North Texas Super Bowl committee's efforts." Jones: "It met the task in my mind, the North Texas effort, both financially as well as effort-wise. ... It was really noted by the NFL and many of the people the NFL brings in, contractors and people like that, were really impressed with the structure of our North Texas Super Bowl committee and impressed with how it was executing in many of the things during the days before the Super Bowl when we were dealing with that inordinate weather" (ESPNDALLAS.com, 2/25). Jones "remains optimistic that the event will return to the area." Jones: "I think that our opportunities for a Super Bowl in the future are very outstanding, very good, because of the venue that we have and because of the way the Super Bowl was supported" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/26).

FIRST THINGS FIRST: SI.com's Peter King writes Cowboys Stadium "is going to get another Super Bowl in the next 10 years," but Jones "has a lot of penance to do first for the massive screwups." Two U.S. senators "had to stand in line outside the stadium for at least two hours before the game," and one league owner "recently criticized Jones in a league meeting for the horrible delays and game-day mismanagement." However, when the "emotion and lawsuits go away sometime in the next two years, the owners will get enough iron-clad assurances about the game being run the right way (with some road salt and plows at the ready) that they'll realize they can make more money holding the game there than in most, if not all, other venues" (SI.com, 2/28).

KEEP FUTURE COSTS DOWN: In Dallas, Jeff Mosier notes North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee President & CEO Bill Lively last week "spoke about what's likely to happen with" the region's next bid for a Super Bowl "and also what he thinks should happen." Lively said there "needs to be cost containment up front." He added that "future committees can't afford ever-escalating budgets," and that he "would like to see some way around the NFL's requirement for subsidizing ticket taxes although that is out of his control." Mosier notes these are "a few initial ideas from Lively, who is assembling further proposals for future bid and host committees." The bid for North Texas' second Super Bowl "could be organized as soon as this year." Lively said, "I will not be part of the next host committee, but I will be interested in what it does" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/28).