Cotton Bowl

Step Off, Puppy Bowl

Cowboys Stadium is the Favorite to Host College Football's First Playoff Title Game

College football's first playoff championship game may be coming to the Cotton Bowl. No, not the old, art-deco Cotton Bowl in Fair Park but the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, which has freed itself from the geographical shackles implied by its name and moved to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. ESPN, citing ... More >>

Better Than Being Hungover at Home

Here's What the Cotton Bowl Will Look Like When It's Encased In Steel

We've known for a while now that the Cotton Bowl is getting an $82 million facelift. We've also known for a while that New York-based artist James Carpenter will be the one to bring that tired art deco facade into the 21st century. What we haven't known is what exactly that's going to look like. Unt ... More >>

The Unconcussed Football

Man Who Will Turn Cotton Bowl Facade into Public Art Likes Glass. And Light

Much has been written about the now-certain $25 million renovation and expansion of the Cotton Bowl and the subsequent announcement that the stadium will host the annual cross-border skirmish between  the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma (and their football teams) through at l ... More >>

Texas-OU is Staying at the Cotton Bowl

If you build it dump $82 million into it, they will come. Mayor Mike Rawlings sends word today that it's a lock: The annual, traffic-snarling blood feud between the University of Texas and Oklahoma University known as the Red River Shootout will be played in the Cotton Bowl at least through 2020. ... More >>

Run Rampant, Fur Children

Texas and OU, Count Your Money: The Cotton Bowl's $25 Million Facelift is a Lock

The backdrop, the pageantry, the Fried Everything: There are plenty of reasons the folks at Texas and Oklahoma wouldn't mind keeping the schools' annual rivalry at the Cotton Bowl. But these are college football guys we're talking about, so you can't underestimate the Big R. The schools split $10 ... More >>

City Hall Shouldn't Make Any Promises About Hosting the World Cup at the Cotton Bowl

As we mentioned Saturday, there's a deal in the works to keep the annual Texas-OU orgy at Fair Park, but it hinges on the city's willingness to raise $25 million to upgrade the Cotton Bowl. It feels like chump change, considering the history and economic impact of the event. But then again, the econ ... More >>

Olympics! World Cup! Texas-OU Forever! How City Hall is Selling More Cotton Bowl Upgrades

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 th ... More >>

Park and Rec Is Looking For Firm to Handle $27 Million Worth of Cotton Bowl Improvements

​Shortly before the 2011 kick-off of Texas-OU's annual clash at the Cotton Bowl we spoke with Willis Winters, Park and Rec's second-in-command, about the need to once again renovate the Fair Park stadium in order to keep the Red River Shootout in Dallas past the 2015 contract. Said Winters, it was ... More >>

Once More, With Feeling, Questions at City Hall About How to Make Better Use of Fair Park

​We've had this conversation before. And before that. And before that. Why oh why oh why is Fair Park -- "our jewel," in the words of Dwaine Caraway -- so underutilized, so unloved?Daniel Huerta, Fair Park's exec general manager, and Park and Rec head Paul Dyer, actually came to the Quality of Lif ... More >>

Conference USA Is Taking Over TicketCity Bowl (Which Will Feature Houston and Penn State)

​Far as lower-tier bowl games go, the second-ever TicketCity Bowl -- to be played January 2 at 11 a.m. at the Cotton Bowl -- is about as intriguing as it gets: The University of Houston (so, so, so close -- a one-loss team, thanks to Southern Miss over the weekend) will take on Penn State (well, y ... More >>

Heritage to Sell Odd Bit of Cotton Bowl History. Turns Out, the City Has Its Own Stash o' Seats.

Heritage Auction Galleries​For the longest time I've had this auction item sitting on my desktop: a chair said to be from the Cotton Bowl circa 1960-'62, during the Dallas Texans' days at Fair Park. Heritage is parting with the curio this weekend, during the same auction at which it's offering the ... More >>

Old School Shootout

If Texas and OU Need More Seats to Stay at the Cotton Bowl, Well, There Is Room to Expand

​It's been all of three years, almost to the day, since then-Mayor Tom Leppert and Tennell Atkins played a game of catch on the Cotton Bowl field to formally commemorate the end of $57 million worth of redos, $30 million of which was paid for out of the 2006 bond program with the State Fair of Tex ... More >>

So, Whatever Happened to That Texxas Jam '78 Documentary, Anyway?

Archway Pictures​Speaking of the Texxas Jam, as we're known to do from time to time, while researching yesterday's Fleetwood Mac attack at the Cotton Bowl in '78 I stumbled across an Internet Movie Database entry for something called Texxas Jam '78, which promises to be "the first real look at an ... More >>

For Your Holiday Weekend Listening Pleasure: Fleetwood Mac's '78 Cotton Bowl Landslide

​At last night's Gasland screening, an environmentalist activist of some note noted how much he enjoyed reading Unfair Park ... for the Friday musical offerings, many of which were echoes of shows he'd once attended. Then, this afternoon, a request from another Friend of Unfair Park: Steive Nicks ... More >>

NCAA Delays Reupping TicketCity Bowl License

​The NCAA's Postseason Bowl Licensing Subcommittee met today in New Orleans, where it okee-doke'd bowl licenses through 2013-'14 for 32 out of the 35 game played during college football's post-season. (Really? Only 35? Coulda swore it was more like 98.) Anyway. Two of the no-go's were already fo-s ... More >>

Lapping Up the Cotton Bowl

Bad News for Fiesta Good News For Cotton?

​Following yesterday's release of that damning, mammoth report about all flavor of fiscal shenanigans at the Fiesta Bowl, the question immediately became: Well, what about the Cotton Bowl taking its place in the BCS rotation? But Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports explained, initially, Not so fast:If there ... More >>

"People Openly Lit Up and Smoked Marijuana": Take a Big Whiff of the Texxas Jam in 1978

As many times as the Texxas Jam's come up, I can't believe we've never seen this: Channel 8's coverage of the '78 "Texxas Music Festival," featuring reporter Randy Jackson's sweat-soaked, dope-smoked coverage of the billion-degree July 1 concert at the Cotton Bowl. Among the headliners that day: Aer ... More >>

Yet Another Exciting Addition to Fair Park: "Proposed Cotton Bowl Museum." Pardon?

Flickr user: steevithak​Shame about this weather -- if only because the ice and snow put the kibosh on our plans to head down to Fair Park this morning for a meeting of the Landmark Commission's Fair Park Task Force, which was called on account of the weather. Because, you see, there was this one ... More >>

Super (?) News & Notes: From Cotton Bowl to Coliseum, Power (For Now!) and Shut Up, Baby

The latest Oncor outage map. As always, updates available here.​That's the latest Oncor outage map above -- and it appears quite a bit busier than yesterday's at-this-time look-see. (Which might explain the fleet of tree-removal trucks that just passed in front of the house?) Still, ERCOT and Onco ... More >>

Super Bowl Parties Already Half Off

​A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention to today's Groupon Daily Deal for Dallas: half-off tickets to Pamela Anderson's Super Bash 2011 at the Fashion Industry Gallery on Ross Ave., which takes place Friday night from 9 till 3 in the morning and will feature among the special guests none ot ... More >>

Tonight: The Best Way to Spend Twenty Bucks

​Sports bars and any restaurant with a giant-ass television will be packed tonight with football fans watching the Cotton Bowl, so head on over to Nana (2201 Stemmons Freeway) for Friday Night Flights. The popular monthly wine series is back with an evening dedicated to Syrah wines. Sample wi ... More >>

Your First Super Bowl Party Invite: The Village People at the Cotton Bowl. Wait. What?

​We are 59 days from kickoff of Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, and The Great Prostitution Invasion of '11 only feels like a long way off. But, no -- time to party plan. And yesterday, this invite arrived to a three-night-stravaganza at Fair Park starting February 3 called, simply, XLV Party. Better ... More >>

Texas-OU has, with last week's shocking Longhorns loss, slid from a marquee game with national implications.

Bowled Over: Dallas Gets Two Holiday Games

​About 10 percent of next winter's college bowl games will be played right here in our backyard, two under noses in Dallas. In addition to the Cotton Bowl at Cowboys Stadium, this year will mark the debut of the Dallas Football Classic at the Cotton Bowl. And yesterday brought news that the A ... More >>

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Boston Headlines the Texxas Jam in the Summer of '87

​A few months back we spoke of the late, great Texxas Jam, and I'll be honest -- that poster at right is mine. It's framed and hangs in the Unfair Park home office, near the framed flier for Joe Jackson's June 2, 1984, Body and Soul Tour stop at the Fair Park Bandshell. It's my sole souvenir from ... More >>

Between the Football and the S.W.A.T. Training, Cotton Bowl's Doing Just Fine

Patrick MichelsTom Leppert gives a nod to the backers who helped the Cotton Bowl land the new Dallas Football Classic, which has a banner of its own, even if it's not as big.​Hand-wringers who said the Cotton Bowl would sit empty now that the Cotton Bowl Classic took its wagons west to Arlington c ... More >>

Ruff Play

Are You Ready for Some (College Bowl Game) Football?!

​While Cowboys Stadium is a greedy, event-eating monster and Texas Stadium is an icon about to be reduced to novelty-act rubble, the Cotton Bowl is still a living, breathing attraction. Barely. Later this month in Phoenix the NCAA will likely grant certification to the start-up Dallas Footbal ... More >>

A Parade of New Year's Parade Photos

All photos by Harry Wilonsky"Who's Ron Jackson?" asks the boy. "That's Jason Castro," I tell him. "Who?" "Exactly."​It's no longer the Cotton Bowl Parade that snakes through downtown Dallas on New Year's Day. Wouldn't make sense -- the Cotton Bowl's now in Arlington, in case you missed that break ... More >>

2010 Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Old Opponent

At least they saved money on a new logo.​For the first Cotton Bowl at Cowboys Stadium it's going to be ... Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi. Wait, haven't we seen Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl recently? Like, um, last January?

Yes, But Does a "Classic" Bowl Game Really Involve Conference "Also-Rans"?

​God knows the city's been talking about it since forever -- you know, finding another bowl game to stick in the Cotton Bowl, since the actual New Year's Day Cotton Bowl Classic will now be played at the EnormoDome in Arlington, which is about 389 shades of ain't-right, but, whatever. So, maybe yo ... More >>

Texas-OU Belongs in the Cotton Bowl, But Jerry Jones is Preparing to Lure the Game to You Know Where.

Tailgating It at Texas-OU

Photos by Danny FulgencioA few shots before kick-off? Sure, why not.​By 8 a.m. Saturday Oklahoma had pumped its trucks and minivans into Texas to clog Interstate 35 worse than a fat man's aorta. A normally 40-minute drive to Fair Park took well over two hours. It was a fine time to contemplate th ... More >>

Given Oklahoma’s two losses, Saturday’s showdown with Texas has lost some luster

Texas to Get Revenge on OU for Last Year's Loss. Wait ... What?

​Dear Oklahoma, I am indeed a bitch. Sincerely, Karma Last year the Oklahoma Sooners were whipped by the Texas Longhorns in their annual mid-October showdown in the Cotton Bowl. Both teams lost one game all season, yet somehow - inexplicably - it was Oklahoma, through a discombobulated nation ... More >>

Cheap Bastard Goes to the State Fair and Gets Her Fry On

Kickin' Cotton

Says Mayor Leppert, Dallas is Now "One of the Premier Places for Football and Soccer"

Megan Feldman​At an afternoon press conference at the Cotton Bowl, where city officials gathered to officially announce next month's double-header soccer game at the 77-year-old stadium, Mayor Tom Leppert emphatically dismissed a reporter's suggestion that it may be tough for the recently rehabbed ... More >>

Bye-Bye, Cotton

Big D sends its bowl packing

Cotton Bowl: Goodbye, Dallas. Hello, Palace.

Like it or not, relocation is the right Cotton-pickin' decision.

Soul Bowl

The State Fair Classic kicks off

Cool Cotton

If anything, now is the time to embrace the Cotton Bowl

Out With the Old

With the Cotton Bowl's inevitable departure, Dallas dies a little more

The Touch, The Feel