Venue News & Notes: Texas Stadium Bites the Dust

Texas Stadium is nothing but a memory — and a huge mess. The longtime home of the Dallas Cowboys — known for the giant hole in its roof, “so God can watch his team,” according to local lore — came tumbling down early Sunday in a planned demolition. Fireworks shot off above the building for several minutes, then hundreds of fans counted down as 11-year-old Casey Rogers of nearby Terrell, the winner of an essay contest, pushed a button triggering the implosion. More than a ton of dynamite dropped the west side of the building toward the north, the east side toward the south, and the roof right on top.

If the trend in baseball stadiums is intimacy, in football, it is grandeur. And the New Meadowlands Stadium, the home of the Jets and the Giants, is certainly imposing. With 2.2 million sq. ft., it is twice the size of Giants Stadium, which is being demolished next door. It is 30 ft. higher and has about 6,000 more seats. The suites are more opulent, the 118-ft.-long scoreboards are larger, and the construction cost was lavish, at $1.6 billion, equal to the gross domestic product of Lesotho. The first football game is not until August, but the stadium opened on Saturday for the Big City Classic collegiate lacrosse tournament.

UC Berkeley has agreed to pay a neighborhood group’s legal fees and strictly limit non-football events at Memorial Stadium to settle a high-profile lawsuit over noise and safety at the landmark venue, according to a settlement announced this week. The court-ordered agreement with the Panoramic Hill Association ends a four-year legal battle between neighbors and the university over plans to expand use of the 86-year-old stadium. “There’s always going to be issues, but this means the university is now more committed to working on those issues,” said Michael Kelly, president of the Panoramic Hill Association, which represents Berkeley and Oakland residents who live in the hills just east of Memorial Stadium.

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