cotton bowl history
cotton bowl history
“Welcome to the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, TX. Cotton Bowl ticket holders are in for a treat as the number two team from the Big XII battles it out with a powerhouse from the SEC.” These words are likely to be heard from Westwood One Radio Network’s Brad Shaw, the voice of the Dallas Cowboys and the Cotton Bowl, on January 1, 2007. The Cotton Bowl is one of the most prestigious bowl games of NCAA football postseason.
The Cotton Bowl was first played in 1937 in Dallas, TX, and saw TCU collide with Marquette. TCU won the first ever Cotton Bowl by a score of 16-6. For the first forty years of its existence, the Cotton Bowl Classic was one of the four big bowls that were played on New Year’s Day. It started its tradition by featuring the champion of the once mighty Southwestern Conference, but in the mid= 1980’s many of teams of the SWC were found guilty of numerous recruiting and other NCAA violations, leaving them ineligible for bowl play. Around this time the Fiesta Bowl began to gain recognition by being able to invite national championship caliber teams due to the them having no conference alliances. In 1996. the Southwest Conference folded and then Cotton Bowl switched its conference ties to the Big XII and the SEC.
The Cotton Bowl is more than an upper tier bowl game; it is also a venue that is rich in history. Built in 1932, the Cotton Bowl has hosted numerous collegiate and professional teams. The Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) of the NFL once made the Cotton Bowl home. Once know as “The House that Doak Built,” referencing the 2 expansions that were completed on the stadium when tickets for the Cotton Bowl quickly sold out to watch the great SMU Heisman winner Doak Walker dominate the Mustangs opponents. The stadium was originally built for $348,000 and could hold more than 45,000 fans. With several renovations and the most recent to accommodate the World Cup of soccer, the stadium can now hold upwards of 72, 000 fans. The only tenant currently residing in the Cotton Bowl is the Dallas Burn, a team of the MLS. Another popular event at the Cotton Bowl is the Red River Rivalry. A yearly match-up between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns, often with National Championship implications, is also played at the Cotton Bowl. Tickets for this event are some of the most desirable tickets in all of college football.
With AT&T’s continued support of the Cotton Bowl Classic, the reward for teams fortunate enough to play in this event are rewarded with 3 million dollars for there university. That is up from the $10,000 dollars awarded to each team in the inaugural game between TCU and Marquette. AT&T is now the longest current tenured sponsor of a single major bowl game, and they are contracted through the 2010 season. All seating at this historical bowl game are reserved, but the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic tickets are sure to go fast when a Big XII powerhouse matches up with a worthy SEC opponent this coming January.
