The new Dallas Cowboy football stadium is something to behold. It’s ridiculously enormous. Then, add to that, it cost $1.15 billion to construct. No, you don’t have a hearing problem – a billion, for a building. The new stadium replaced the old Texas Cowboy stadium which opened in 1971 and was used through 2008. The new stadium is currently the largest doomed stadium on the planet. It also has the second largest HD screen in the world, stretching 40 yards left to right. I can’t imagine who has the number one largest.

The stadium was completed in May 2009, and can hold 80,000 screaming fans. Well, it can actually hold 110,000 screaming fans if you include all of the standing room. There are many other sporting events that take place in this stadium. You would think so, especially for the cost to build it. College and high school football games are played there, along with basketball, soccer, motocross and boxing matches. Concerts are held at the stadium as well. One would assume that the band would have to be pretty big to drawn enough fans to justify renting that place.

The architectural firm HKS, located in Dallas, designed the facility. Money to pay for the construction came from everywhere. The NFL loaned the Cowboys $150 million, which they do when a team builds a new stadium. The city of Arlington where the stadium is located agreed to raise city taxes, hotel taxes and car rental taxes to help pay for the building. Those increases raised an additional $325 million to help with the cause. The Jones family paid the rest.

The architectural design of the building has some unique features. Architectural glass was used at each end zone for the doors to exit the stadium, allowing each to have an open look and facilitate light to enter the building. There are two 300 foot arches that span the structure that have to be anchored to the ground. Seeing the mass of these gives you an idea of just how big this place is.

The new stadium also has 3,000 LCD TV’s throughout the building so fans don’t miss one second of the action. Yes, 3,000. It’s not hard to see why bigger is better for Dallas.