Move the video board at Jerry Jones World
During the Big 12 media tour of Jerry Jones World, the first thing we did was debate the massive video board: Could a punter reach it during a game? We didn’t have any dimensions, we were just eyeballing.
I said no way, thinking that it looked too high and surely no one would build a new stadium that might get in the way of a punt. But someone else — I think it was Johnny Hoover of the Tulsa World — said he thought it could be hit with a punt. Turns out Hoover was right.
In the tour we took, our guide said test punters actually had reached the video board but that the Cowboys didn’t think it would/could happen in a game, since those test kicks were actual attempts to hit the board. Uh, not so fast. In the first exhibition game Friday night, Tennessee Titans backuppunter A.J. Trapasso banged a kick off the video board, and by rule, the play is a do-over. Then Trapasso almost hit it again.
A do-over? This isn’t sandlot football. This isn’t golf with mulligans. You want a riot on your hands? Have Mat McBriar rocket a punt off the video board against the Giants, then in the do-over New York blocks a punt for a touchdown and wins 21-17.
The NFL says it is monitoring the situation, whatever that means, and Titans coach Jeff Fisher, a member of the league’s competition committee, says it’s a concern.
The answer is clear. Raise the video board, which is 75 feet off the ground. Move it higher.
The Cowboys don’t want to do that, because of the expense. The stadium’s cost now sits at $1.15 billion ($1.2 billion, or $1.4 billion, depending on which report you believe), and any overruns come out of Jerry Jones’ pocket, which of course means it eventually comes out of fans’ pockets.
But the video board has to move up anyway for a U2 concern (you rockets can explain why), so whatever is the temporary solution, make it the permanent solution. And frankly, no one should care what it costs Jerry Jones.
In the tour, the guide proudly talked about how some of the granite in the suite areas was imported from Italy. Huh. I guess there was no pretty granite in the whole state of Texas.
To me, that was an abomination. The city of Arlington gave the Cowboys $325 million or so for the building of the stadium, and fans, very few them of from Rome or Venice, are paying outrageous seat licenses, and Jones imports granite from Italy.
If I’m the NFL, I’m telling Jones to move his video board out of punter range, no matter the cost.
Truth is, the league already has too many goofy holes in its stadiums, foremost of which are the goofy baseball infields that teams play on early in the season in dual-sport stadiums like Miami and Oakland.
No high school team in America plays on dirt, but a portion of a Dolphins-Patriots showdown might be. Ridiculous.
And it’s ridiculous to open a new stadium that on its maiden game, a punt gets blocked by something hanging from the ceiling. Move the video board.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
75′???
Where in the world did you get the information that the board was 75′ high? The board is reported… by every other source to be 95′ high. The NFL gave the ok to the height of the board (regulations put the above field limit at 85′) Punters have to try… and try hard to hit it. I am not saying not to raise the board, Dallas may have to because it will just become one of those things that opposing punters do. The chances of Matt McBriar hitting the board are nil.
Hate the cowboys all you want. Hate Jerry all you want… but… come on, get the facts right.
Jerry Jones cares about one thing and one thing only……increasing the franchise value of the Dallas Cowboys. He obviously doesn’t care about winning, as the Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game since 1997. As long as he and his son are running the team and making personnel decisions, the Giants and Eagles will dominate the NFC East (the Redskins have the same problem as the Cowboys….an incompetent owner).
I’m somewhat amazed that the media hasn’t picked up on the fact that approximately 18 months ago, when he realized that the PSL sales were coming in way below what he had forecasted, he started soliciting colleges to move some of their regular season games to JJWorld. Now fans of OU, Arkansas, Texas A&M and BYU are subsidizing the over budget costs and under budget revenues of JJWorld (not to mention the merchants in Norman, Fayetville and College Station). While I understand the positive effects in recruiting it could have for those college teams, I hate that the money from the fans of those schools is going directly to Jones.
One last rant on Jones. Look at the coaches who have come and gone in the NFL since Jones let go of Johnson. I’m pretty sure he didn’t interview any of these people:
Bill Cowher
Bill Belicheck
Tony Dungy
Andy Reid
Mike Tomlin
Jeff Fisher
John Fox
Ken Whisenhunt
Tom Coughlin
He’s a joke of an owner, and an even bigger joke of a GM. He is, however, a rich man, as he feasts on the wallets of his fans.