Dallas Cowboys adding Ring of Honor walkway at Frisco headquarters

When the Dallas Cowboys built the $1.2 billion AT&T Stadium in Arlington, it was compared to the Taj Majal and the Eiffel Tower.

It’s easily become the crown jewel of sports stadiums.

Never did Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dream of building a practice facility/retail complex that is possibly more breathtaking, potentially more expensive and probably with a greater impact to the everyday fan.

That is what’s taking shape at The Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, which already has 33 of 91 acres developed at a cost of roughly $800 million with an estimated final price tag of $1.5 billion when the final 58 acres are sold and developed.

“It’s four times the financial commitment that I might have thought it would be when we started,” Jones said. “No, I didn’t necessarily plan on it. I was so excited over our stadium, AT&T Stadium, all the things we’d done there in Arlington. And I really didn’t have as much mustard, or as much want-to, about another huge project or another huge investment of this kind.

“This just totally has blown me away in terms of what we can do, the visibility, the tying it in to football, athletics, then regular athletics. This area will be a template and an example far beyond Frisco, all over the country.”

The basics of The Star include the Cowboys’ headquarters, a partnership with Frisco Independent School District for a 12,000-seat indoor stadium and a partnership with the Omni to serve as the hotel.

The Cowboys announced other retail partners Wednesday as well as the centerpiece of the retail project — the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor Walk and Dallas Cowboys Community Ring of Honor, presented by Dr Pepper.

The plaza and store fronts, which will line The Star Boulevard, Winning Drive and Cowboys Way at The Star, will surround 21 monuments of former players and coaches enshrined in the team’s Ring of Honor.

In addition, North Texas community leaders will be recognized via a rotating showcase that will introduce new honorees each year, starting in 2017.

The monuments of Ring of Honor members Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson will be at the center of the Walk of Fame.

The numbers honoring Staubach and Pearson will be placed 50 yards apart, paying homage to the iconic 50-yard, game-winning pass from Staubach to Pearson that toppled the Minnesota Vikings in the 1975 playoffs and introduced “Hail Mary” into the sports lexicon.

Staubach and Pearson were at the announcement to dip their footprints in concrete along with their signatures to be placed next to their monuments.

“Roger is the most popular player ever in terms who people want to see when they go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” vice president Stephen Jones said. “So you know he had to part of it.

“Jerry and I kid a lot. It’s good to be good at some things. But you’ve got to have luck too. Or a Hail Mary, if you will. I think it’s great to have that.”

Other retailers announced include City Works, Dee Lincoln Prime, Liberty Burger, Mi Cocina, Neighborhood Services, Nestle Tollhouse Café by Chip, Next Step Dance and Tupelo Honey Café.

The experience of the casual every day fan being able to “work here, play here, sleep here and have night out of town here” while also touching Cowboys history with the Walk of Fame has the elder Jones most excited about the complex.

“We expect literally thousands and thousands of people, not just here for the events, but here for the amenities of the entertainment, other offices,” Jones said.

“More important, just as we have upwards of half a million people a year that tour our stadium, right now. With no event. Just tour the stadium. Well, we can have that happen right here, just to come see and be a part of what we’re doing with the Cowboys.”

The city of Frisco is also part of the partnership.

The complex is on a 91-acre tract of land on the northwest corner of Dallas North Tollway and Warren Parkway.

The approximate mile-long stretch along the roadway that has drawn major real estate investors for big-money projects is known as the “$5 billion mile” because of its total value, including the Cowboys and retail centers.

The team’s new headquarters and training facilities along with a multi-use special events center will be ready when the team breaks training camp in Oxnard, Calif., on Aug. 19. The first event will be a nationally broadcast high school football triple-header featuring teams from the Frisco schools on Aug. 27.

Stephen Jones said his father had a bit of stadium fatigue at first because of the enormity of AT&T Stadium, but he bought in quickly to the new project.

“It prepared us for this for sure,” Stephen Jones said. “What we ended up with at AT&T Stadium wasn’t the original plan, as we all know. It started with about a $750 million budget and ended up at $1.2 billion. That evolved over time.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Dallas Cowboys adding Ring of Honor walkway at Frisco headquarters."