Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said a $35M Texas Stadium
renovation project -- which will see a retractable roof
installed, artificial turf replaced with natural grass and
seating capacity increased -- will be complete in time for the
'97 season, according to the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The
improvements are part of two-phase project to position Texas
Stadium to host a Super Bowl. Phase I will see capacity increase
from 65,812 to 74,000, while Phase II will see it rise to
104,000. Jones: "As easy as we can get 74,000 seats, we can get
104,000, and then we will have Super Bowls." Construction will
begin no later than February '97, while Jones says he has not
completed financing plans. Jones: "There will be some public,
some private, a lot of my money, a lot of my partners' money and
some of Irving's money." Irving Mayor Morris Parrish said he and
Jones discussed the proposal a few weeks ago and plan to meet
again soon (Ed Werder, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/29). Irving City
Councilman Joe Putnam said Jones still owes the city about $1.8M
for two years' revenue from luxury box sales and that needs to
get "resolved" before talking about "anything else" (Kevin Lyons,
FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 11/29).
