The Omni Dallas Hotel stands in the foreground of this aerial view of snow-bound downtown Dallas on Friday. (LOUIS DELUCA/ The Dallas Morning News)
Crystal McCarthy is trying to regain her composure. Reliving the course of events that took place on Super Bowl Sunday is not easy for her. She was one of the unlucky 1,250 fans who arrived at Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV only to be told they did not have a seat due to safety concerns by safety officials.
McCarthy was one of the 850 ticket holders who eventually ended up with seats of comparable or better value. After a few hours, she and her husband, Justin, were allowed to sit in their original seats that suddenly opened up.
The day that was supposed to be her 10-year wedding anniversary celebration turned into a nightmare, McCarthy said.
“A bolt and washer just fell out of this bleacher contraption we are sitting on. It was missing a nut,” said McCarthy about her seat in a text to her mother-in-law during the game. “If we die because [the seats] collapse, please sue Jerry Jones for everything he has! I am done with him, the Cowboys and the NFL.”
The seating issue, uncharacteristic heavy snowstorms, falling ice from the dome of the stadium that injured six people and even Christina Aguilera’s botched lyrics to the national anthem all provided a perfect storm of negativity from many fans towards Jerry Jones’ big day.
So how do Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, Jerry’s World, and the NFL move forward?
Cowboys Public Relations Assistant Joe Trahan would not comment on the seat fiasco and falling ice surrounding the big game on Feb. 6, but calls the event “a huge success” in terms of the record number of people, 111 million, who watched the game around the world. There were 103,219 people in attendance in the stadium.
Trahan said the stadium was built with the thought of holding many future Super Bowls. As the largest domed roof in the world, it boasts numbers that would make any football team envious. The 2,900 televisions in the stadium and 19 unique pieces of artwork are just some aspects of what make it one of, if not the most, technologically advanced and impressive stadiums in the world.
“Mr. Jones and his family weren’t just building a stadium, they were building an arena,” Trahan said.
The Cowboys, Jerry Jones and the NFL now have to deal with a class-action lawsuit, as well as possible individual lawsuits, filed against them because of the seating ordeal. Despite the league’s three separate offers to the fans that did not receive a seat, many people are still not content.
McCarthy’s experience at and since Super Bowl XLV has been one that she says she will never forget. A Cowboys and NFL fan for about 20 years, McCarthy and her husband sold their 2010 Cowboys season tickets in order to pay for the Super Bowl tickets. McCarthy said that she and her husband have been treated horribly and that the experience left them physically and emotionally exhausted. Currently, she has not decided if she will file a lawsuit.
“I filled a large suitcase with all my Super Bowl and Cowboys apparel. It sickens me to see it. I’m not sure I can ever recover from this and forgive the NFL or even support the NFL by even watching another game, much-less attending another game,” McCarthy said.
The local transportation systems, logistics, size and appeal in the local markets are some of the advantages the new stadium holds over other stadiums around the country, said SMU Sports Management professor Rodney Williams in an email interview.
It is difficult to gauge how well the NFL will deal with the controversies and challenges that arose for Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Public debate has been raging over the issue of whether or not future Super Bowls should be held in warm weather states only.
“As great as Cowboys Stadium is, you can’t overlook the fact that the weather seriously interrupted a lot of Super Bowl activities. You know Jerry Jones must have just been furious…The seating situation doesn’t seem acceptable to me,” Steelers fan John Johnson of Weatherford said.
“North Texas airports, hoteliers, restaurants, ground transportation companies, authorities and retailers are reporting unprecedented numbers. These data, in combination with the Host Committee’s historical Super Bowl legacy programs that involved almost 45,000 North Texas children, will, we hope, be remembered along with the negatives. Time will tell,” said President and CEO of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee Bill Lively in an email interview.
Despite record numbers, events surrounding the game were affected by the weather. Even the famed Super Bowl Media Day did not draw as big of a crowd as it typically does.
Trahan said Cowboys Stadium will bid for Super Bowl L in 2016 and that that has been the “plan all along.” The recent sub-freezing temperatures that cancelled 2,200 flights and put a damper on even the Packers’ practice location have made the competition more difficult for the stadium. The possibility of a new stadium being finished in Los Angeles by 2016 is another factor that Jerry Jones will have to compete against.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area’s devotion to football may work in its favor in selection processes for future Super Bowl sites, said SMU Sports Management professor Michael Stone in an email interview.
While Cowboys Stadium looks to host another Super Bowl it will continue to be a spot where not only America’s Team plays, but where events such as the 2014 NCAA Final Four and concerts will be held.
Gene Jones, Jerry Jones’ wife, gives tours on a weekly basis of the 19 pieces of art around the stadium. Stadium tours are currently offered every day of the week and bring visitors to areas not usually seen by the public. Special Super Bowl XLV tours were hugely popular and were often sold out.
Cowboys Stadium was the site of Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6, 2011.
