At Texas Stadium’s last game, witness history, but don’t steal it
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
bformby@dallasnews.com
Nostalgic Texas Stadium souvenir hunters, take note: Leave your screwdrivers at home for Saturday’s Dallas Cowboys game, probably the swan song for Irving’s most famous landmark.
Team officials say they’ll be watching for anyone planning to scrape off a seat number, peel off a concession sign or make off with an exit marker from the structure when the Cowboys face the Baltimore Ravens.
“There will be additional security measures in place to monitor anything going in and out of the stadium,” said Rich Dalrymple, the Cowboys’ public relations director.
Nearly everything inside the stadium, from turnstiles to urinals, has already been promised to winning bidders in an online auction that fetched more than $245,000. The auction was part of a seasonlong send-off to the stadium that’s been home to the Cowboys for more than 37 years. Irving officials plan to demolish the stadium and redevelop on the site.
Auctioning off pieces of retired stadiums has become common in recent years as professional sports teams move to new venues. But some fans still try to grab a piece of history without paying.
Three New York Mets fans were accused this year of trying to steal pieces of a Shea Stadium seat and bunting from a right-field wall during the final home opener at the stadium where the Beatles famously played.
When Yankee Stadium shuttered this fall, nearly 20 people were hauled away for trying to steal pieces of the stadium, including one man who was trying to scrape paint off a wall as a memento.
An Irving police spokesman this week said extra police officers will be on duty at Texas Stadium on Saturday, but he would not say what their plans were.
The game has been long sold out. Tickets were going for hundreds of dollars each this week on Web sites such as craigslist.com and texastickets .com.
Charles Zent, general manager for texastickets.com, said the minimum price on his site for the game was $200.
“It’s double what a normal game will go for,” Mr. Zent said. “Lots of people who normally wouldn’t come to a game are coming to this one.”
Chris Kratovil of Irving said Cowboys fandom led to a traffic nightmare at last Sunday’s game. Mr. Kratovil and his wife, Siobhan, arrived at the stadium grounds more than an hour before kickoff. Even though they had a blue parking pass, parking attendants and Irving police told them those lots had been oversold and were full.
“It’s always bad out there, but Sunday night was really unprecedented,” Mr. Kratovil said.
The Dallas attorney said he and his wife sat in a traffic jam on the road surrounding the stadium’s blue lots for more than two hours. They missed the kickoff and saw no end in sight. Mr. Kratovil said parking attendants and police officers didn’t know how to handle the situation or where to tell people to park. One attendant, Mr. Kratovil said, indicated they’d be better off just leaving.
“My final impression of that place is going to be driving off after sitting in gridlock traffic after about two hours with my bladder about to burst,” he said. “That’s not exactly a fond final memory.”
Mr. Dalrymple said the blue lots are never oversold, and he did not know why parking attendants would instruct someone to leave. He said he had not heard of any problems at Sunday’s game.
Irving police spokesman David Tull also said he did not know of any problems. Officer Tull did not respond to questions about whether officers who were at the stadium Sunday knew of any parking or traffic problems.
For Saturday’s game, stadium parking lots will open earlier than normal for the 7:15 p.m. kickoff. The red, gold and green lots will open at 2 p.m. So, too, will gates 1 and 6 of the blue lots. The rest of the blue lots will open at 3 p.m.
“We’re encouraging people to arrive early and stay late,” Mr. Dalrymple said.
Team officials have announced a post-game ceremony Saturday that will feature at least 10 members of the franchise’s Ring of Honor and dozens of former players and coaches who spent at least five years at the stadium.
In an online contest, fans voted on the final song to be played at the stadium. And throughout Saturday’s game, there will be a countdown of the five most memorable moments at the famed structure.
“The fans are what made Texas Stadium a special place and an historic venue through the years, and we wanted to reward them for their attendance and their support,” Mr. Dalrymple said.
When fans steal Stadium closures in the past decade have led to looting, theft and arrests.
In 1999, one fan tried to steal a trough-style urinal in Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. Other fans unscrewed armrests from seats and stole them.
New York police caught 20 baseball fans trying to steal items from Yankee Stadium during its farewell game this year. One fan tried to steal third base after the game. Others were caught stealing seat cup-holders.
New York Mets fans were accused of looting Shea Stadium during its last home opener this year. Fans allegedly tried to steal pieces of a stadium seat and bunting from a right-field wall.
SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research
