Cotton Bowl (stadium)

The Cotton Bowl is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States. Opened in 1930 as Fair Park Stadium, it is on the site of the State Fair of Texas, known as Fair Park.

The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual college football post-season bowl game known as the Cotton Bowl Classic, after which the stadium is named. Starting on New Year's Day 1937, it hosted the first 73 editions of the game, through January 2009; the game was moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington in January 2010. The stadium hosts the Red River Rivalry, the annual college football game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns, and formerly, the First Responder Bowl.

The stadium has been home to many football teams over the years, including: SMU Mustangs (NCAA), Dallas Cowboys (NFL; 1960–1971), Dallas Texans (NFL) (1952), Dallas Texans (AFL; 1960–1962), and soccer teams, the Dallas Tornado (NASL; 1967–1968), FC Dallas (MLS; as the Dallas Burn 1996–2004, as FC Dallas 2005), and Dallas Trinity FC (USLS; 2024–). It was also one of the nine venues used for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Prior to Dallas Trinity's inaugural season, it was the largest stadium by capacity in the United States without a professional or college team as a regular tenant.

It became known as "The House That Doak Built", due to the large crowds that SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s.

Artificial turf was installed in 1970 and removed in 1993 in preparation for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The elevation of the playing field is approximately 450 feet (140 m) above sea level.