First the Rangers went to Arlington. In 2009, the Cowboys will follow. Now the Cotton Bowl is headed there, and the Red River Rivalry can't be far behind.
The Cotton Bowl board voted unanimously on Tuesday to move the January bowl game to Arlington, starting in 2010.
The Cotton Bowl's committee cited the January weather as a major factor for the move, but the planned $1 billion Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington provided a siren song as well. The artist renditions show the stadium standing out as a beacon of football hope to all Cowboys fans, complete with the hole in the roof. The Arlington stadium, which opens in 2009, includes 60-yard long video screens, a retractable roof and more amenities than Terrell Owens' car.
The Cotton Bowl, in comparison, is the football equivalent of a VHS player. The game itself is a historic bowl that can't keep up with the aesthetics of the Bowl Championship Series, let alone the Texas-OU game played in October. As of today, it's a mid-level bowl game with teams from the SEC and the Big 12. It takes place on Jan. 1, and gets overshadowed by the BCS games.
And that's the problem the Cotton Bowl is trying to fix. Though the BCS is currently composed of four bowls and a national championship game, the Cotton Bowl hopes its new stadium will lead to an eventual fifth BCS location.
"We've talked to a lot of [conference] commissioners and a lot of athletic directors. They certainly understand our situation," Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker said. "We don't really control the BCS process, all we can do is put ourselves in the best position if there is a tweak to the system."
Whether that happens or not, the Cotton Bowl is planning a major upgrade to it's facilities, and the Texas-OU game can't help but think likewise.
Unlike this decision, which was made by the Cotton Bowl board, the Texas-OU game's setting depends on a contract decided by the schools' athletic directors. As of now, the Texas-OU game will take place in Fair Park until 2010. Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said there are no plans beyond that contract, but it would be hard to argue staying in the Cotton Bowl stadium when Dodds and Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione meet to discuss a new contract.
The Cotton Bowl Stadium is in the middle of a $50 million renovation, which includes the new JumboTron and replacing the seats with bleachers. For as much history and grandeur the Cotton Bowl represents, the new screen for this year's game was too little too late for the badly aging stadium.
Everyone knows the traditional complaints about the Cotton Bowl stadium - bad restrooms, bad facilities - but it is still a one-of-a-kind atmosphere for college football. The corn dogs and ferris wheel provide the backdrop for the Texas-OU game, but the atmosphere doesn't translate as much to the Cotton Bowl game in January. The bowl committee felt like all the endearing memories could move 20 miles west into the new stadium without major problems.
"It's in the memories we have, it's not in the bricks and mortar," Cotton Bowl chairman Bruce Gadd said. "We know we can stick our tradition and history of our game, put it in our pocket and take it with us."
As to whether the Texas-OU game will follow the Cotton Bowl to Arlington remains to be seen, but my money says it will.
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