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ARLINGTON — Cowboys Stadium attracted thousands of American Idol hopefuls on Friday — and a couple of hundred of the team’s faithful for the first tours.
OK, so the approximately 10,000 who came out for the American Idol auditions greatly outnumbered the Cowboys fans. But a strong contingent still arrived at 9 a.m. to be the first to be guided through the massive stadium’s 2.6 million square feet."Very impressed. Amazing," Cowboys fan Jason Bass of North Richland Hills said.Bass brought his wife, Traci, 7-year-old daughter Maddison and his mother, Pat Fausnight. Tickets (normally $15 for adults, $12 for children) were discounted $3 because some aspects of the stadium, such as the field, are not completed."This is awesome," Fausnight said. "I just hope I can afford to go to a game."The tour begins inside the team’s Pro Shop and heads upstairs to the Club Level, which offered a terrific view of the gigantic video board hanging above the auditions below, where the synthetic football field will soon be installed.Jeff Felkins drove eight hours with his wife and two daughters from Flippin, Ark. Felkins tried to spot 16-year-old daughter Jacey and wife, Charla, in the stands as Jacey nervously waited for her audition number to be called.While they waited, Felkins and his 14-year-old daughter, Shaley, marveled at the new stadium."We’re Cowboys fans, definitely," said Jeff Felkins, a produce manager at the Flippin Wal-Mart. "My grandmother got me hooked on them probably when I was 9."This is beyond description," he said. "I told my wife if we can drive here eight hours for American Idol, we can drive here for a ballgame."The tour ventured further up to the master control room, something like a network news production room, full of high-definition TVs, computers, panels, switches and buttons that control images seen on the huge video boards as well as the 3,000 HD TVs throughout the stadium.A stop at the largest sliding glass doors in the world offered an impressive view of Rangers Ballpark before everyone headed downstairs for a stop in the unfinished Cowboys locker room. The final attraction was at field level, inside the Suite Owners Club, where those fortunate fans will cheer on the Cowboys as they make their way from the locker room and onto the field.Tours run every day, every half-hour and last about an hour. For the next few months, though, expect to see ladders, equipment and workers in hard hats along the way as workers continue to put on the finishing touches.Dallas Blythe didn’t mind. Originally from Iowa, he was celebrating 28 years of living in North Texas. He became a Cowboys fan on Day One and spent many Sunday afternoons at old Texas Stadium."You drive by Texas Stadium now and it’s pretty sad looking compared to this," Blythe said. "It’s a work of art."
If you goTours run every 30 minutes, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and (11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays, excluding game days and other scheduled events. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for children.
Jeff Caplan, 817-390-7760
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