The Case for Playing Texas-OU at the Dallas Cowboys Practice Facility

It's almost a birthright for Texas and Oklahoma fans to crowd into their cars and make the trek either north or south on I-35 to the State Fair of Texas in Dallas for the annual Red River Showdown.

The atmosphere is like no other in college sports. Traditional tailgating gives way to a literal carnival littered with families taking kids on rides right alongside college students who began their festivities the night before.

All of the lights, games, rides, fried food and adult beverages help build to a crescendo of excitement so big, most believe playing the game at night might become a legitimate safety concern.

Unfortunately, the State Fair of Texas is shuttering for the year due to COVID-19. That will certainly alter that incredible tradition both fan bases have come to expect in 2020. In fact many believe the game may be played without fans in attendance - if it's played at all.

There have been many ideas thrown around for this year's game from going to either Norman or Austin to playing the game inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Anyone who attended the 2018 Big 12 Championship game will tell you something just didn't feel right. Sure, the game had an air of excitement as the Longhorns and Sooners met with a conference title on the line, but for those who have attended a game between the two teams at the Cotton Bowl, the energy level just wasn't the same. The air of electricity was absent. It would be 100 times worse without fans in the stands for the game.

Playing the game on either campus would be an interesting turn of events. It hasn't happened since 1923 when the Longhorns hosted the Sooners in Austin, but it would also break with tradition and would almost certainly mean a return trip to the opposing team's home stadium in the future. For university officials hungry for new ways to make revenue, it could be the tiny gap in the door they need to end the meetings in Dallas permanently in the future.

If we reach a point where fans aren't allowed to watch the 116th meeting of Texas and Oklahoma, why not use the unfortunate circumstances as an opportunity to add to the television experience?

This is an out-of-the-box idea for sure, but hear me out. Why not play the game at the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility?

"The Star" - as it's known to Cowboy fans - is home to the Ford Center a 12,000-seat indoor stadium that currently hosts the Frisco ISD high school football teams in Dallas every year.

It's hosted the Conference USA mens and women's basketball tournaments for the past three years, the Alliance of American Football Championship was scheduled to take place at the facility and several major boxing fights - including a heavyweight title bout in 2019 - have gone down inside the stadium.

Anyone who has ever toured the facility has seen it's a world-class, state-of-the-art place to host a football game and it has all the necessary amenities to work for a scaled-down version of the Red River Showdown.

The atmosphere would certainly be different than most seasons, but if you allowed (with proper testing of course) both bands, cheerleaders and both spirit squads into the game, the smaller indoor facility would feel less desolate than an empty stadium and maintain some of the electricity associated with the game.

You could also rig the entire stadium with cameras and create a unique experience for those forced to watch the game from the comfort of their own homes. Perhaps each school could sell its own feed aside from the national broadcast to supplement the coverage and make up for some of the lost income. It could be something similar to what ESPN does for major events with coach's cam angles, alternate announce home/away announce teams and maybe even unique perspective from former players during the game.

If fans can't be a part of the the action this fall, why not give them the best television experience possible and potentially make the universities some coin in the process?