Posted May 4th, 2006 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Media

RRS 2005Good news for both Longhorns and Sooners today as the two universities have reached an agreement that will keep the Red River Shootout in Dallas through 2010. The lack of improvements to the Cotton Bowl had caused both UT and OU to threaten to change the matchup into a home-and-home series.

While the agreement is only through 2010, Dallas officials are poised to announce renovations to the stadium totaling $50 million next week. That money would be a big step to keeping the game in Dallas and would likely result in a long-term deal. The game brings in big time money and it was definitely in Dallas’ best interests to keep the game in the city. For the two schools, the low capacity and lack of luxury boxes in the Cotton Bowl limit the revenue brought in by the game. Hopefully the proposed renovations will create a stadium and a situation that causes all parties to want to keep the game in Dallas.

One last note, contrary to what Mayor Laura Miller (the reason we’re in this mess and the Cowboys are in Arlington) and the Dallas TV media are trying to claim, this is not a five year extension. The previous agreement would not have ended until 2008, so while this is a new five year deal it only guarantees an additional two years at the State Fair for the historic series. The city of Dallas has avoided complete disaster (for now) but they must get the $50 million bond approved or we’ll be having these same discussions in another year or so.

Kudos to Texas’ DeLoss Dodds and OU’s Joe Castiglione for getting a deal done, and to Mayor Miller for miraculously not screwing things up.

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1 Comment

  1. reply to  #1

    Robert

    This is very good news. Now let’s hope Dallas comes up with the money for the renovation of the Cotton Bowl. While the Cotton Bowl is aged, it is a historical site and it is good that significant games are still played there. The Cotton Bowl is to football what Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field are to baseball.

    Think about all the great contests that have been staged in the Cotton Bowl. From the Texas-OU games to the Cotton Bowls that were for National Titles to Dallas Cowboy football. We need to keep these historical sites so I am hoping Dallas does the right thing and passes the bond.

    From a strictly financial point of view I think Dallas would suffer immensely from losing the Texas-OU game. The number of people the game draws to Dallas is amazing and many end up staying for a while and attending the state fair. I’m sure that the amount of money brought into the Dallas area from one or two Texas-OU games would pay for the renovations.

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