I had already been to the new Cowboys Stadium once, but that was for a U2 show. I wanted to see how it performed during a Cowboys game. So I went yesterday. Here are some observations:
– While you can’t really fault Jerry Jones on the finish-out, there are a couple of minor problems I noticed. One, anytime you are away from your seat, you can hear the Brad Sham/Babe Laufenberg call of the game. Except when you are in the restroom. I found this curious. A man in there complained that there weren’t TV screen at every urinal. I wouldn’t go that far. But a few speakers would be nice.
– Two, and this is extremely small: on some of the electronic menus, the thing that popped out at me wasn’t the prices (expensive, but not much more so than the AAC). It was the fact that sandwich was spelled “sandwhich.” I almost would have preferred they stayed inconsistently misspelled rather than some fine, others not. The concessions workers, by the way, are the friendliest I’ve come across.
– They could do with an actual scoreboard. The only places to see the score, down and distance, and so on are tucked into the corners. I missed them my first scan around the stadium. It occasionally pops up on the crazy screen above the field, but not enough.
– The parking website is invaluable. Never sat in traffic once. (At least getting there. I did leave early. The only sports I really care about are NBA basketball, English Premier League soccer, and Real World/Road Rules Challenge.)
– I don’t feel like it’s going to serve as much of a home-field advantage. I don’t know if that is due to the arrangement of the fans, or the fans themselves. But for long stretches it was oddly quiet. And I saw all those people outside. They aren’t quiet.
In short, I had a solid, entertaining time without much hassle. And I don’t think you could ask for much more.
