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The Cotton Bowl has always been
associated with college football and continues to be today. For more
than sixty years, it was the home to the annual Cotton Bowl game
before it was moved to Cowboys Stadium in 2009.
Now the Cotton Bowl is home to the annual Heart of Dalls Bowl that matches
a Big Ten team against a Big 12 or CUSA opponent every
year.
The Cotton
Bowl has a long, storied football history, including being the home
of two NFL franchises. However,
the primary tenant of the stadium was the SMU Mustangs (NCAA). In
the late 1920s, the team needed a stadium for its college football
games. A stadium near downtown Dallas was constructed in 1930 at a
cost of $328,000. The stadium was named the Cotton Bowl and had a
capacity of around 45,000. The Mustangs played the first game at the
Cotton Bowl in 1932. Throughout its existence the stadium's seating
capacity has been increased many times, the most during the 1940's
when the capacity was increased to over 60,000.
The expansion of the NFL brought
Texas two new teams in 1960. Both the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Texans
played at the Cotton Bowl. The Cowboys played their first game at the
Cotton Bowl on September 24, 1960. The Texans played at the Cotton
Bowl for three years before moving to Kansas City and becoming the
Chiefs. The Cowboys played at the Cotton Bowl until the 1971 when they
moved into Texas Stadium. Today, the Cotton Bowl has no
major tenant. The SMU Mustangs played several decades at the stadium
before moving to Gerald Ford Stadium in 2000. The Cotton Bowl was also
home to the Dallas Burn (MLS) before they moved into Dragons Stadium.
Today, the Cotton Bowl still hosts several major events. The stadium
has a capacity of 92,100. The lower and upper levels enclose the
entire field. The Cotton Bowl hosts the Red River Shootout
between Texas and Oklahoma each September.
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