Cowboys fans take over Levi’s Stadium, make it home away from home

The Dallas Cowboys get a lot of criticism when fans of the opposing team take over AT&T Stadium in Arlington during a close game or blowout victory.

So it was a nice change of the narrative at Levi’s Stadium Sunday when it was filled with chanting Cowboys fans toward the end of the 24-17 victory against the San Francisco 49ers.

“It’s a great feeling, you know,” tight end Jason Witten said. “That’s the thing we kind of embrace. So much the talk of not being able to win at home is the crowd, and there’s no better feeling than coming out west and hearing those Cowboys fans get behind you and hopefully that’ll continue.”

Said quarterback Dak Prescott: “It’s America’s team and we kind of expect that. Everywhere we go the fans show up like that. So we are thankful for that.”

Of the 70,178 fans in attendence, more than half were wearing Cowboys colors. They grew louder as the game went on and had the stadiuim to themselves at the end.

“I couldn't believe it,” 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks said. "I was like 'There's more Dallas Cowboys fans than there are 49ers fans.’”

Owner Jerry Jones said the large number of Cowboys fans at the game has a lot do with the national interest in the team but also the team’s decades-long connection to California for training camp.

“We work hard to create a California interest in the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones said. “That’s why we’ve been coming out here for almost 30 years to do our training and we have generations of fans that have been Cowboys supporters. I’m sure a lot of them were up here. I know a lot of them are in this area. But a lot of them were up here. But it doesn’t surprise me at all that we have a lot of California fan support. I’m thankful for it. Let me be real clear about something now. I’m really appreciative. California means a lot to us.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 1:28 AM with the headline "Cowboys fans take over Levi’s Stadium, make it home away from home."