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Road to the Super Bowl: Inside Dallas Cowboys Stadium
by Darryl K. Taft
Cowboys Stadium
A view of Cowboys Stadium, home of this year’s Super Bowl, from a passing bus.
The JumboTron
A close-up of the 60-yard JumboTron that hangs above the field.
End Zone Screen
For those few fans who don’t have a good view of the JumboTron, they can see the action on one of the end zone screens.
New Looks
The Cowboys keep several rolls of turf to give the field a different look depending on what event is going on. They can support NFL games, NCAA football games, high school games and multi-purpose field games, such as soccer. This weekend, they field will show off the colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers.
Midfield
This is an on-turf view of the center of the 50-yard line, where the Cowboys star logo typically resides.
Can You Make It?
This is a view of the end zone from the center of the 30-yard line. Can you make that field goal?
From the Field
Who needs a Sky Box when you can have a VIP box right at the turf level to watch the game?
The Stands
A view of the stands from down on the turf. In view are some of the Cowboys stars who have had their jerseys retired, like Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith.
SRO Party Animals
This shot shows where those attendees with SRO Party Passes get to watch the game and have a good time.
The Press Conference Room
This is where, win or lose, the Cowboys players and coaches come to answer those hard questions from the press.
Jerry Jones
Owner Jerry Jones poses with three Lombardi NFL Championship trophies his Cowboys have won during his tenure.
Winning Tradition
The display just inside the Cowboys locker room shows the team's history of winning. Win they did, though not in the 2010 season. They hope that changes this year under new head coach Jason Garrett.
Lecture Hall
The lecture hall in the data center area of Cowboys Stadium features a wall portrait of current Cowboys, including QB Tony Romo and WR Miles Austin.
The Back Hallway
The hallway ringing the service level of Cowboys Stadium is where the teams come through before entering the arena. It is also where Dallas QB Tony Romo was ushered for X-rays during the Oct. 25 Monday Night Football home game against the NY. Giants, when a ferocious hit broke his collarbone and ended his season.
Cowboys Locker Room
This is the entrance to the Dallas Cowboys locker room.
The Big StarsThe "stars alley" features the lockers of the Cowboys’ big names—including Romo, backup QB Jon Kitna, tight end Jason Witten, and wide receiver Miles Austin.
DeMarcus Ware
This is the locker of pass rushing specialist DeMarcus Ware.
Locker Room monitors
The TV monitors in the Cowboys locker room run nonstop at the coach's discretion. This footage shows former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells.
The Cheerleaders
This is the dressing room of the famed Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Tom Landry
This photo of Tom Landry, the stoic former Cowboys coach, in the halls near the stadium's data center harkens back to another era of winning for the Cowboys.
Roger Staubach
Right down the hall from Landry's portrait is that of Roger Staubach. The former Heisman trophy winner out of the Naval Academy led the Cowboys to many winning seasons under Landry.
President Clinton
Former Cowboys star receiver Michael Irvin yaks it up as President Bill Clinton congratulates the team on a Super Bowl win.
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This is the house that Jerry built. Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, created a state-of-the-art football arena like no other. Cowboys Stadium will be the home of Super Bowl XLV, this year’s version of the NFL’s annual celebration of all things professional football, and eWEEK recently got a look inside the stadium, thanks to Hewlett-Packard. This year’s game pits the Green Bay Packers against the Pittsburgh Steelers—two teams with physical defenses, mobile and accurate quarterbacks, and a corps of wide receivers that can get to the ball. This year’s game will be played in the most technologically advanced stadium ever to host a Super Bowl, courtesy of the likes of Cisco Systems and HP. HP has a contract to provide the bulk of the IT that drives the stadium operations. Jones and the Cowboys selected HP because they needed an IT provider that could ensure scalability to support not only the biggest events at the 82,000-seat venue, but also the day-to-day work of the Cowboys and the Jones’ family of more than 35 other business operations. The $1.2 billion-plus, 3.2-million-square-foot facility is the largest domed stadium in the NFL. The centerpieces of the stadium are the Mitsubishi-built video screens facing the sidelines, which are 70 feet tall and 60 yards in length, spanning the field from one 20-yard line to the other. The $40 million JumboTron—or video board configuration—has 30 million light bulbs and 25,000 square feet of video displays. Meanwhile, two 48-foot wide boards face fans sitting at both ends of the stadium, enhancing their game-day experience. There are also more than 3,100 TV monitors throughout the stadium for attendees to see the action on the field or anything else the Cowboys organization wants to pump into various sections and clubs in the building. As part of a recent ProLiant Day event, HP hosted eWEEK and a group of other journalists and bloggers on a tour of Cowboys Stadium.