Cowboys' New Video Board is Big. But Is It High Enough?

While the Dallas Cowboys held this week's minicamp at their temporary home (Carrollton's Standridge Stadium), their new home is about to become a really cool home. Cowboys Stadium will today officially debut as the world's biggest media room. This afternoon owner Jerry Jones will press the power button on Jonestown Coliseum's 60-yard video boards. (Having...

By Richie Whitt

May 21, 2009

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While the Dallas Cowboys held this week's minicamp at their temporary home (Carrollton's Standridge Stadium), their new home is about to become a really cool home.

Cowboys Stadium will today officially debut as the world's biggest media room.

This afternoon owner Jerry Jones will press the power button on Jonestown Coliseum's 60-yard video boards. (Having just bought a new 1080p HDTV, I'm guessing that baby runs at least $3,000 at Best Buy.) It weighs 600 tons, will be suspended 90 feet over the field and stretches from 20 to 20-yard line.

If the sneak preview above is any indication, even Matt Moore handing off to Tyson Thompson for a a 2007 pre-season touchdown will be riveting.

Wait, 90 feet?

Doesn't seem right, does it? I was on the field at the San Antonio Alamodome a couple years ago when the Cowboys had Mat McBriar punt the ball as high as he could to determine how high the new stadium's scoreboard needed to be. Seemed like it took six or seven seconds for the ball to come back to Earth.

Surely he was booting it higher than 90 feet. That's the distance from home plate to first base. That's 30 yards.

I'm notoriously hideous at gauging distances and obviously I'm missing something here, but doesn't it seem like McBriar could produce a punt that travels 30 yards up and 50 yards out?

Aeronautical physicists, let's hear from you.

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