For years, Frisco, Texas has been a city on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ radar. With the official move of the Dallas Cowboys to the city 20 minutes north of downtown Dallas, the franchise is now in prime position to be a host for anything they can get their hands on, such as future NFL Drafts.
“We have big ambition,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “We certainly know that North Texas, and its commitment to sports, particularly football, will help our case for premier events here.”
Jones decided to move the team’s headquarters away from Valley Ranch after 31 years to one of the fasting growing cities in America.
When you think of the most popular sports franchise in America, one of the first things that comes to mind is the play pen we Texas natives call “Jerry-World” (formerly known as AT&T Stadium). The stadium, which cost $1.2 billion to build, is one of the most well known venues in sports, and without a doubt one of the most costly in the country.
I’ve been to Jerry-World, it’s a thing of beauty. But I’m here to tell you “The Star” in Frisco, the new home of the Dallas Cowboys, may be even better.
Jerry Jones, along with Baylor, Scott & White Medical, as well as the city of Frisco, unveiled the latest addition to “The Star” complex two weeks ago at a press conference and groundbreaking. The focal point of the unveiling — a new Baylor Medical Center, which will sit adjacent to the Ford Center, the team’s indoor, 12,000-seat practice facility, was unveiled to the audience.
“Baylor, Scott & White, in my mind, is the premier healthcare and prevention center in Texas,” Jones said after the press conference. “Probably one of the top in the nation.”
The medical center will be available to Dallas Cowboys players, members of the Cowboys Club, student athletes in the school district, and residents of Frisco. It will feature a rehabilitation center, a concussion research site, a pharmacy, and much more in its 300,000 square feet.
“We want North Texas to be the safest place in America for kids to play sports,” Frisco ISD Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Lyon said.
The medical center is just the latest addition to the complex which carries a $1.8 billion dollar price tag. Think about that for a second; the practice facility is more expensive than the Cowboys’ stadium. As a matter of fact, it is more expensive than any stadium in America.
That’s because “The Star” is an entertainment venue, not just the headquarters for the Dallas Cowboys. It features an indoor stadium that has 12,000 seats so it can be a practice facility for the team, as well as a high school stadium for Frisco ISD’s eight varsity football programs. In fact, the school district has a quadruple-header the first Saturday of next school year that’s going to have ESPN broadcasting the district’s defending champion.
In addition to the football-related amenities, there will also be restaurants, bars, a five-star hotel (The Omni), office spaces available, and much more that will continue to be revealed over the next year.
“We still have 45-50 left to develop,” Vice President of the Dallas Cowboys Stephen Jones said. “The next big idea is right around the corner and we got the place to put them.”
They say everything’s bigger in Texas. Add practice facilities, courtesy of Jerry Jones and America’s Team, to the list.
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