With thousands of fans and relatively few glitches, Cowboys Stadium opens at last

By ANDREA AHLES

aahles@star-telegram.com

ARLINGTON — With beer, boots, ballads and bar songs, Cowboys Stadium officially opened Saturday.

More than 60,000 George Strait and Dallas Cowboys fans flocked into the $1.15 billion stadium and were treated to a concert under the stars as the roof opened around 10:15 p.m.

And while the inaugural event went fairly smoothly, there were a few glitches: hourlong waits for margaritas and several performers welcoming fans to Dallas. Even the stadium announcer said, "Welcome to Texas Stadium."

Oops.

Fans got their first glimpses of the stadium around 2 p.m. when the parking lots and the west end zone opened.

Spilling on to the main concourse’s end-zone platform, they gawked at the large video boards, snapped photos with their phones, and munched on nachos and popcorn while leaning on the drink rails.

Among those impressed with the Cowboys’ new home was Fran Mackey of Keller, who celebrated her 49th birthday at the new stadium for her first-ever concert.

She said it was worth the $137.50 per ticket.

"It’s a great chance to see Reba [McEntire] and George together and the stadium," she said, looking down into the stadium bowl. "We couldn’t pass it up."

Before the show, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones signed autographs from his owners box on the 50-yard line. Former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison also hung out with members of the Jones family at their suite.

"This has been an incredible night. It is everything we dreamed and more," Jones said. "After almost 10 years of working toward this day, it has been a joy to see the reaction of everyone coming through the doors.  . . .

"The crowd has just been electric and we are all feeding off that energy."

Jerry Jones Jr. decided to wander around the stadium’s west end-zone platform, mingling with fans to see their reaction.

"It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work," Jones Jr. said, adding that he saw a lot of Cowboys fans wearing their jerseys even though it was a country music concert.

"Our biggest challenge for this project was to meet our fans’ expectations," Jones Jr. said. "Walking around, I see a lot of smiles."

Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck declared the stadium "will be a wonder of the world."

Traffic coming into the stadium also seemed to be manageable as the audience of 60,188 arrived via the 14 parking entrances. Arlington police prepared for 24,000 vehicles for the concert.

Official stadium parking was $40, but a few nearby lots were charging even more. CiCi’s Pizza on Collins Street offered $60 "safe parking" and threw in a pizza buffet. Several private lots were priced around $30.

While most fans said they had no trouble getting to parking lots, performer Blake Shelton had something to say about it.

"Traffic coming into this thing sucks!" the country singer said as the crowd let out a loud cheer.

"I guess that’s how it’s going to be. I didn’t know if we were going to make it here on time."

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