The Dallas Cowboys are moving ahead in developing a cutting-edge training and mixed-use complex that will strengthen their ties in north Texas through a partnership with the city of Frisco and the local school district.
In the planning stages for the past two years, the ambitious project could cost up to $3 billion when fully developed and will include the team’s new corporate headquarters, an extensive practice facility and the Cowboys’ first Hall of Fame.
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The 91-acre mixed use project is scheduled to open in August 2016.
Photo by: COURTESY OF DALLAS COWBOYS
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The Star in Frisco, as the complex will be called, is scheduled to open in August 2016 as part of a 91-acre mixed-use project that will sit about 30 miles northeast of the team’s current headquarters and practice facility in Irving. The complex is within a mile of Toyota Stadium, the home of MLS’s FC Dallas; the Dallas Stars’ practice facility; and a minor league ballpark.
The Star will incorporate several elements to be developed over the next three years. The Cowboys’ 400,000-square-foot headquarters, housed in two six-story towers, will be built next door to a 300-room Omni Hotel and 150,000 square feet of specialty retail and restaurant space. The Cowboys will lease a large chunk of the available office space. Lincoln Properties is responsible for leasing the retail space. The Cowboys and Omni will co-own the hotel, which will be themed for the NFL team and open in 2017.
The project will also feature what is thought to be a first in pro sports: the Cowboys’ partnership with the city of Frisco and the Frisco Independent School District to share a 12,000-seat indoor stadium, the centerpiece of the team’s 25-acre property.
The Cowboys will book the stadium and retain the majority of revenue, but the city and the school district own certain rights to stadium signs and events for themselves, said Chad Estis, the team’s executive vice president of business operations.
The school district, serving one of the fastest-growing communities in the country, will use the stadium for high school football games and soccer matches, plus cheerleading and band competitions — both big productions in Texas. Project officials estimate there will be 100 ticketed events and 200 corporate functions filling the building every year.
The city and the school district paid $90 million up front to fund stadium construction, plus $25 million to build the Cowboys’ headquarters. The team pays the balance of project costs, said Stephen Jones, the team’s executive vice president, chief operating officer and director of player personnel.
The cost of the complex is not known, but could reach
between $2 billion and $3 billion after all 91 acres are developed over the next several years, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said recently. Blue Star Land, the development group owned by the Jones family, controls the remaining 66 acres targeted for development next to the Cowboys’ complex.
The project marks the first time an NFL team has folded its
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Views of the preview center at AT&T Stadium showcasing The Star in Frisco development
Photo by: COURTESY OF DALLAS COWBOYS (3)
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core business operations into a larger development separate from its home stadium. The New England Patriots’ practice facility and headquarters sits next to both Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place, the team’s retail and entertainment district, in Foxboro, Mass.
The Cowboys plan to market their new headquarters as a year-round destination for fans, tourists and corporations. They are in discussions with AT&T Stadium’s founding partners about branding two dozen spaces, including naming rights to the stadium, practice facility, the outdoor plaza facing the team’s headquarters and the Ring of Honor farther down Main Street, the road running through the complex.
The exact terms have not been determined, but all the agreements will most likely carry a value of more than seven figures annually, Stephen Jones said. Team officials refused to provide a number on projected revenue.
The project presents an opportunity for the Cowboys marketing staff to go back to the club’s top sponsors and sell assets to the new property, expected by the team to draw 3 million visitors a year, Estis said.
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The view from Main Street
Photo by: COURTESY OF DALLAS COWBOYS
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The five founding partners at AT&T Stadium — AT&T, Dr Pepper, Ford, Miller and Pepsi — all have first rights to sign deals for the Cowboys’ piece of the overall development. All five companies have shown initial interest in having a presence in Frisco, Jones said.
Dr Pepper already has naming rights to the Stars’ practice facility and the Frisco RoughRiders’ Class AA ballpark.
“If [all five] decide not to be involved we would not use another competitor,” Jones said. “We’re in discussions with every partner and we realize they have already made significant investments in AT&T Stadium. We don’t want to put pressure on anybody.”
To showcase their vision in Frisco, the Cowboys opened a preview center at AT&T Stadium designed by Nashville-based Advent. It’s Advent’s first major league account, said John Roberson, the company’s CEO. Advent specializes in college projects and designed upgrades to USC’s Heritage Hall and its display of the school’s seven Heisman trophies.
Advent is also designing the first Cowboys Hall of Fame, which will offer an interactive experience that will extend outdoors to the pathways connecting the team’s headquarters and outdoor plaza with the practice fields, project officials said.
One display inside the preview center shows the number 355 to signify the number of days the team will spend in Frisco minus its 10 home games a year at AT&T Stadium.
“This will always be the Cowboys’ real home,” Roberson said.
The Cowboys plan to use their new facilities in Frisco to draw the curtains back on some key and often sensitive pieces of their business.
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The new “war room” with viewing opportunities
Photo by: COURTESY OF DALLAS COWBOYS
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Typically, most NFL clubs prefer to keep their internal operations behind closed doors. The Cowboys, on the other hand, plan to build a draft-day war room with windows for top sponsors to peer through while team officials make critical personnel decisions.
The Cowboys Club, a private membership club connected to the corporate offices and the stadium, will overlook outdoor practice fields. Separately, a 50-person super suite inside the team’s headquarters reserved for corporate partners and companies doing major events on site provides another premium space to view practice.
Those are three examples of the customized experience that the Cowboys envision for their biggest stakeholders, said Ron Turner, director of sports and entertainment for Gensler, the architect designing the team’s headquarters, practice facility and stadium, and the hotel.
“The Cowboys know how to promote their brand better than anybody,” Turner said. “In Dallas, it’s a big deal to be next to that team. It helps their brands as well. Jerry gets that. He understands the value of that and how it makes the franchise special.”
To put a value on sponsorship inventory for the Cowboys complex and the overall mixed-use piece, sports research firm CSL International ran comparisons of sponsorship deals at L.A. Live, Xfinity Live and Ballpark Village, three entertainment districts next to arenas and stadiums.
CSL also studied naming rights for NFL practice facilities connected to the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles.
The challenge for project officials, Estis said, is no projects combine the two entities as the Cowboys are doing in Frisco.
“There were some similar elements, but we had to more or less come up with our own analysis,” he said. “The other aspect is the high schools. The partners we have today certainly have an interest in associating their brands with youth football and soccer.”
