The Curse of Cowboys Stadium
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If you live in the DFW Metroplex, you may already understand. For those who don’t allow me to explain The Curse of Cowboys Stadium.
Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, built a $1.3 billion stadium in 2009 and if you ask him he built it with his own hands. It is the largest domed stadium in the world and is the largest column-free interior stadium in the world. Cowboys Stadium also has the second largest HD television in the world, second only to a Nascar track. Yes, Nascar. Despite the prestige involving this stadium, you can hear a pin drop when the Dallas Cowboys play.
When the Cowboys played Monday night in Dallas against the Chicago Bears, you could hear Jay Cutler’s cadence over the crowd. Given players are mic’d and NFL mic’s hover over the field and on the sidelines, but they should be picking up cheers from the fans as well. Yet they did not and it is hurting the Cowboys.
The inaugural 2009 season for Cowboys Stadium saw the Cowboys go 7-1 and win their first playoff game in 13 years. Since then, the Cowboys have been 8-10 when they play in Cowboys Stadium.
Crowd noise adds an additional X-factor for the home team. This can be disrupting an opposing QB’s cadence, ability to hear incoming plays into a QB’s helmet and an intimidation factor for the opposing team. Not to mention the Home team feeding off the cheers from their own fans. Just ask Baltimore, San Francisco, Dallas and Green Bay all of which have been beaten by the Seahawks in Seattle, home of the “12th Man”, or simply the fans in the stands.
Cowboys Stadium
Fans in the stands is something the Cowboys lack. Attendance levels have been declining from an average of 90,000 per home game in 2009 to an average of 85,000 per home game in 2011.
There are many reasons why this could be. It could stem from fans being pre-occupied with the bells and whistles of the new stadium. Could result from a neuro-toxin in the ventilation system, but we’re gonna rule that one out and we do apologize if anyone was looking for a good conspiracy theory. I have narrowed it down to two major theories, let’s proceed.
Madman Round Table Theory #1
Simply, the City of Dallas.
Being raised in the city of Dallas I have noticed one thing. The lack of pride for the city itself. It’s not as if the city is not trying to restore pride within it’s residents, it’s just they don’t care for pride in residence. Outside of Austin, most Texas cities don’t have a large number of residents that have proud for the city itself. The State of Texas holds itself to a high degree as a place that was it’s own country at one point.
Residents that were born and raised within the State of Texas have Texan pride, no matter where they live. Whether you live in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or Austin, everyone has pride for simply being Texan. This may be a concept outsiders can’t comprehend and is hard to explain without seeing first hand, but when you are Texan it doesn’t matter where you live. As long as you live in Texas.
Madman Round Table Theory #2
When you have everything, you tend to loose interest.
People who are wealthy tend to be depressed more often due to a sense of boredom. And by wealthy I mean HIGHLY wealthy. When someone is poor, they tend to hold onto to things and, for a lack of better words, worship them. This theory of human psychology can be applied to the sports world. Dallas has four major sport franchises, the Stars (NHL), Rangers (MLB), Mavericks (NBA) and the Cowboys. This splits up a metropolitan population of just under 7 million between several sports. If the Cowboys are struggling, as they have been for the past decade and more, they tend to lean their fandom towards other venues.
Well use Seattle as an example again, for they know the pain of losing a major sports franchise (Supersonics of the NBA). Seattle has a metropolitan population of just under 4 million. The Seahawks is basically all they have in a major sports franchise. Sorry Mariner fans, they are not relevant. Seattlians…Seattlopians… Citizens of Seattle hold onto the Seahawks because they don’t have any other Sports to put their focus and pride into. Therefore, when the Seahawks play at home the fans go crazy to show their support. Something citizens of Dallas will never know, for they split there focus amoung four major sport franchsies.
Remember, these are just theories of why Cowboys Stadium lacks the crowd noise of fans. Whether it’s the bells and whistles, neuro-toxins, a lack of city pride or stretch fandom, the Cowboys are lacking the home fans.
About The Author
Donny Bockemehl
Donny is the lead writer on TheMaddenCurse.com. A College Student majoring in Journalism/Radio Broadcasting, he is also an avid sports fan who follows all sports, from the NFL to the PGA.
4 Responses and Counting...
Dallas fans sit on their hands the whole time during the game!! Go Patriots!!!
[...] the Dallas Cowboys unveiled Cowboys Stadium in 2009, with hopes of giving the Cowboys a monstrous home field advantage for decades to [...]
[...] the Dallas Cowboys unveiled Cowboys Stadium in 2009, with hopes of giving the Cowboys a monstrous home field advantage for decades to [...]
[...] the Dallas Cowboys unveiled Cowboys Stadium in 2009, with hopes of giving the Cowboys a monstrous home field advantage for decades to [...]