Cowboys

Cowboys told to deal with it - World Cup gets curtains at AT&T Stadium

The frustration continues for Dallas Cowboys fans as FIFA gets the long sought over curtains in Jerry World, while the owner refuses to help his own team.

SAM HODDE | AFP
Sports Journalist, AS USA
Sports journalist who grew up in Dallas, TX. Lover of all things sports, she got her degree from Texas Tech University (Wreck ‘em Tech!) in 2011. Joined Diario AS USA in 2021 and now covers mostly American sports (primarily NFL, NBA, and MLB) as well as soccer from around the world.
Update:

For years, Dallas Cowboys players and fans have been complaining about the unusual orientation of AT&T Stadium, which is built on a southwest-northeast axis, rather than the typical north-south alignment of most other NFL stadiums. Why? Because the gigantic glass windows on the west side of the stadium cause the sunlight to come in and blind the players during late-afternoon games, impacting games, frustrating players, and quite literally costing the team on the field. And for years, they’ve been told to just deal with it.

That is, until now. Because suddenly, when the FIFA World Cup comes to town, the problem is getting fixed.

The unfixable problem - unless it’s Taylor Swift, boxing, or soccer

During this summer’s World Cup matches, including a June 25 game between Japan and Sweden, kicking off at 6 p.m., AT&T Stadium will close its curtains to block sunlight, the exact solution Cowboys players have been asking for.

The most glaring recent example came in 2024, when wide receiver CeeDee Lamb lost a ball in the sunlight during a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. His reaction afterward said it all.

“I couldn’t see the ball… couldn’t see the ball, at all. The sun [was in the way].”

When asked if curtains would help? “Yes. One thousand percent.”

That was the star receiver flat-out saying the stadium is working against him. But Jerry didn’t exactly show urgency when the issue was raised.

His now-infamous response in 2024:

“We know where the sun is going to be when we flip the coin… let’s just tear the damn stadium down and build another one. Are you kidding me?”

Jerry’s dismissive, sarcastic tone hits a nerve because clearly, the solution wasn’t impossible. It just wasn’t important enough to him. And it’s not just the Cowboys dealing with it, but that’s exactly the point. Why is this still a shared disadvantage in a billion-dollar stadium?

Even more frustrating perhaps is that this isn’t even the first time curtains have been used. They’ve been deployed for major non-NFL events, including concerts like Taylor Swift and the 2024 fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. So the technology and solution exists. It’s just never been prioritized for Cowboys games.

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