Dallas Cowboys do not plan to have fans at scrimmage next Sunday at AT&T Stadium
With the Sept. 13 season opener at the Los Angeles Rams three weeks away, coach Mike McCarthy plan to use a Dallas Cowboys scrimmage at AT&T Stadium next Sunday, Aug. 30 to hasten their preparation.
It’s was a mandatory event for those planning to work games during the season, per an email obtained by the Star-Telegram. But that event has now been canceled per a stadium employee.
And now there will be no fans in attendance, per Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple.
It could have served as a dress rehearsal of sorts for hosting fans at games during the season.
A week after the opener against the Rams, the Cowboys will host the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 20.
Owner Jerry Jones has not revealed how many fans will be allowed, but he continues to insist that having them there is part of the plan and touts the space at AT&T Stadium as a key part of the equation.
“Think of fresh air, think of openness,” Jones said. “Think of a lot of room, a lot of space. That’s the way football is played. Football is by tradition, it’s space. It’s element. It’s air. It’s air flow and movement.”
And it appears Jones plans to open the side doors and roof at AT&T Stadium to help alleviate COVID-19 concerns.
“We have space,” Jones said of AT&T Stadium. “Yeah, we have the ability to enclose it, we have the ability to open it wide open. There’s 3 million feet of air conditioned space out there. When I think of playing our games out there, I want our fans to think about space. Space is what we’re trying to take advantage of. We have it.”
“I’m not worried about the air conditioning bill,” added Jones.
McCarthy said the scrimmage is part of the continued ramp up of training camp into game preparation.
“I think we’re where we need to be,” McCarthy said Sunday. “But I’m not naive to the fact that we have to get a lot done in the next three weeks because we’re still in the install phase in a normal training camp outline. We really will be in that until we come off the field on Tuesday and so what we decided to do Thursday and Friday is important.
“So Thursday and Friday will be more of a review of the installs but we really want to get into more game-type work structure and we’re going to accomplish that a week from today out there at AT&T Stadium. But we need more than just the one night.”
The scrimmage takes on added importance with no preseason games this season due to COVID-19. McCarthy said he will give the young players an extended look in practice this week and the scrimmage.
“Yes, that is really what we are going to start at the end of the week and even into the work over at AT&T Stadium on Sunday,” McCarthy said. “If you look at a normal training camp we would get through eight installs and have a scrimmage which is the normal pattern. And that was really your first time getting into live action. If you stay on that same time clock our first live action would be this Thursday. So that is the way I am looking at it.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 5:14 PM.
