1 week Ago By Rich Jones
AT&T Stadium has generated plenty of headlines over the past seven days. With the Dallas Cowboys ’ season falling apart, the ‘House That Jerry Built’ came under fire after CeeDee Lamb dropped an easy touchdown catch after losing the ball in the sun. It’s prompted a major debate around the struggling NFL franchise.
Several players, including Lamb, complained about the issue of the sun. Asked if he would support putting up curtains for games, Lamb said: “Yes. 1,000 percent.
” Jones was somewhat defensive about his 15-year-old, $1.2 billion stadium. He said: ”Well, let's just tear the damn stadium down and build another one? You kidding me?”.
Six days later, the 80,000-capacity, state-of-the-art arena was back in the limelight - not the sunlight - as it played host to one of the most controversial and talked-about boxing matches in history with Mike Tyson taking on Jake Paul. Netflix just got exactly what it wanted from Mike Tyson and Jake Paul for $60M price Mike Tyson confirms reason he slapped Jake Paul as he breaks silence on incident Intriguingly, the Cowboys’ player complaints seemed to have been heard, even if it wasn’t for an NFL game. Curtains covering the large glass windows at either end of the stadium were closed, even though it would long be night time and dark by the time the main card got underway.
When the first fight of the night - and undercard bout between Bruce Carrington and Dana Coolwell - kicked off the card, however, it was only 4:40 p.m. local time.
With the sun setting, it seemed necessary to stop the sun being an issue in the early fights like it was for the Cowboys last week. Aside from the curtains, the stadium was completely transformed for the spectacular event, being broadcast around the world by Netflix. Outside the stadium, huge figures of Paul and Tyson flanked one entrance, with an enormous banner across the entire side of the stadium for the fight.
The same was replicated on the opposite side of the stadium, only with co-main event Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in giant form to greet fans entering the arena. Once inside, there was an array of floor seating added to the stadium. A temporary TV studio in one corner was erected for Netflix’ coverage.
There were also temporary bars installed at either end of the floor section to serve fans. Inside the concourses, there were stalls selling merchandise and memorabilia especially for the fight. From the tunnel onto the pitch, a special LED walkway led the way to the ring to be used for ring walks from all fighters, starting coming through an LED arch at the tunnel entrance.
Nearby, there were numerous VIP tables. And one section was reserved for fans who purchased an incredible $2 million ringside package to watch the fight. TorkLaw, a National Personal Injury Law Firm, purchased the package including a specialty built ringside suite for guests, right next to the ring.
The section marked the closest patron seating ever approved by Texas boxing regulators. The package also included a pre-fight locker room visit and autographed gloves as well as being on stage for Thursday’s weigh in, where all hell broke loose when Tyson slapped Paul. Organisers expected around 75,000 people to pack into the stadium for the event.
Hundreds queued outside to get into the arena before gates opened at 4 p.m. local time.
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