Before he left for the Land of a Thousand Blogs, Robert Wilonsky had a few stories about city officials' desire -- they would call it a need -- to spend another $25 million or so sprucing up the Cotton Bowl, just four years after taxpayers coughed up $57 million for upgrades. It's (almost) all in the name of keeping the annual Texas-OU tilt in Dallas, rather than seeing it flee to Cowboys Stadium or, even worse, back to the hometowns of its participants, as the schools keep threatening.
If there's any blowback in store for that idea, by council or taxpayers or Jim "Just Blow The Damn Thing Up" Schutze, it looks like it will happen in the coming weeks. Rudy Bush, Robert's new co-city-hall reporter, reports from behind this morning's paywall that city council will hear the formal pitch this week and vote later in the month, and that the city is simultaneously working on a deal with the schools to keep the game here. What's at stake? An alleged $34 million economic impact.
More to come, obviously, but for now you'll find below the pitch in all its glory, which includes the hope of attracting World Cup games in 2018 and '22, Gold Cup games and even the Olympics. (What, no Super Bowl?) There's also a plan to upgrade the press box, a naked attempt to win over the media for which we will not fall. Unless there's Jameson fountain, in which case we'll take it under advisement.
