In a recent VIP Dallas Cowboys football stadium tour (i.e., AT&T Stadium), I took notes on what the tour guide said.
Before sharing my observations, one thing needs first to be highlighted. This facility was build with effective process execution in mind so that there would be financial gain for the facility owner and excellent customer experience at the same time. The stadium was constructed around providing top-rated customer service and flexibility of use processes. To illustrate my flexibility of use statement, see the restrooms comment below.
When we toured the facility, the FSU and OSU college football playing field was being removed.
Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium Tour – Statements made by Guide
- AT&T Stadium was built between 2006 and 2009 at a cost of 1.2 billion dollars
- 660 million dollars was the original estimated cost, where half was paid by Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys’ owner, other half by the city of Arlington. Jerry Jones later paid for the cost over runs
- Resides on 73 acres, 150 acres overall
- Has a 72 feet x 160 feet high definition large screen
- 50 feet x 28 feet is the small screen size (shown on the right)
- Screen is 90 feet above field – largest height for kicks measured to determine this height was 85 feet
- To address a concert need, the screen was made so that it could be raised and lowered to better address an event’s need
- Largest dome structure in world
- 1290 foot arch dome structure using imported steel
- 3 million square feet
- Can refigure seats
- 19 inch seats are larger than norm
- 80,000 seats
Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium Tour – More Processes and Considerations than a Football Game
- There is much modern artwork throughout the facility
- There are many old photos on the wall; e.g., coach Tom Landry
- $29.00 price for standing in party plaza at each end of field
- Can accommodate 100,000 people easily in facility
- Can accommodate NFL, college football, and soccer games, in addition to many other types of events
- 8-9 hours estimated to change field; however, if moving in dirt for soccer games it can take 2-3 days
- College field has washable paint for their field logos
- Cowboy football players have entrance where fans can give players high-fives
- Each end of field has retractable windows, which could be opened when temperature is between 74 and 76 degrees
- Retractable opening in the top of the field is the same size as previous stadium
- Opening in top of the stadium is to that ″God can see the game being played.”
- Ceiling is 325 feet above playing field (statue of liberty is 305 feet tall)
- 1600 restrooms: 60% women and 40% men, where the percentage of women restrooms can be increased if more women are expected to attend an event
- 700 points of sales
- One area for sales has lighting in the shape of a football
- Over 300 suites at 5 different levels
- Cheerleaders have individualized locker space, which is much more spacious than previous stadium
- When entering Dallas Cowboy’s locker room offense player’s lockers are to left and defensive player’s lockers are to the right.
- Estimated cost is $9000 per football player’s locker, where there are 52 lockers
Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium Tour – Summary Thoughts
- Press conference after the game are conducted adjacent to a bar, where there is a sound proof glass separator
Again, my wife and I were impressed by what we saw during the Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium tour; however, I could not help but wonder what the organization’s scorecards looked like. If their tracking of performance metrics looks like traditional reporting, there are opportunities for improvement through a transition to predictive performance reporting.
The transition of traditional scorecards to this form of reporting is described in Ten Illustrations Benefiting from Predictive Performance Reporting.