Cowboys Stadium Scoreboard Too Big?

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones unveiled his new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium last night in a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. The Cowboys won the game 30-10 and the 75,720 fans in attendance seemed pretty impressed with the whole operation. There was only one stadium design flaw. And it was a major one. During warmups, Titans punters Craig Hentrich and A.J. Trapasso kept hitting the behemoth 160-foot long, 90-foot high video/scoreboard that hangs over the middle of the field. A.J. repeated the fete during the game. Craig would later say, “I guess they should have tested it out before they put that thing in place.”

Dallas Cowboys Stadium / Image: Zuma Press

Mr. Jones seemed pretty defiant, claiming the punters were going out of their way to hit it:

“You gotta be trying to do it. The rule is very clear. You just kick it over.”

Titans head coach Jeff Fisher disagrees. He had to throw his red hanky because the officiating crew didn’t see the ball hit the board during the game. Coach Fisher co-chairs the NFL’s competition committee and they are planning a conference call this week to talk about the situation.

I think the thing is ridiculously big for this venue. Sure, it’s really cool. In outer space. And what guy doesn’t want to watch the Cowboys cheerleaders through 30 million light bulbs. But it interferes with the game. And this won’t be the last time a punter hits it. It will probably happen every week. Clearly Mr. Jones went a little overboard with the world’s largest HDTV scoreboard.

Sources: ESPN.com, stadium.dallascowboys.com