The Dallas Cowboys do not plan to use the curtains at AT&T Stadium during the NFL season. The organization is not going to follow the lead of the World Cup.
A vicious sun glare continues to be an issue during the late slate of games on sunday afternoons.
Dallas Stadium used the curtains to block the glare for the international soccer tournament. AT&T Stadium will not use the curtains to block the glare during the NFL season. There is a clear disconnect between the team owner and reality.
Jerry Jones won’t use curtains to prevent the glare for Dallas Cowboys games.
This problem first game to exist more than 15 years ago when the Dallas Cowboys played their first preseason game at AT&T Stadium against the Tennessee Titans on August 21, 2009. Jerry Jones refuses to do anything about it.
With the way that the stadium is built, a large set of windows beyond the west end zone of the stadium causes a brutal sun glare in the late afternoon. The sun sets in the west so it only a problem during games that kick off at 3:05/3:25 p.m. It typically hits the field during the second half. For example:
Fans that sit on the east side of the stadium might have to squint to see the field in the late third or early fourth quarter but it is not a huge issue. The sun can also be annoying for the television broadcast.
It is a serious issue for the players when they are facing toward the western windows. They can’t see.
And it’s not only the visiting teams. Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was unable to catch a wide-open touchdown during a game against the Eagles in 2024 because the sun blinded his eyes. He even said after the game that he would love if curtains were installed to block the light during games. However, those curtains already exist! Jerry Jones does not allow them to be used.
The 83-year-old team owner has shot down the idea of using curtains to block the sun on more than one occasion. And now it is happening again.
Dallas Stadium is back to AT&T Stadium after the World Cup.
Because of FIFA rules, every World Cup host stadium was required to drop its branding from the venue. As a result, AT&T Stadium was known for the last few months as Dallas Stadium. Things are now back to normal.
The playing surface at Dallas Stadium also saw a complete overhaul. The artificial turf was replaced with grass.
Now that the tournament is over, AT&T Stadium is back to synthetic turf. The Cowboys, just like the other NFL organizations that served as World Cup hosts, ignored their players’ safety concerns to go back to a fake surface. Their refusals do not stop there.
FIFA used the already-installed curtains to block the sun during World Cup soccer matches. The glare was not an issue. It proved, yet again, to be such a simple solution to a legitimate problem.
According to the Cowboys executive vice president of business operations Chad Estis, the Cowboys are not going to change their policy. They will not use the curtains during football season.
“We feel like the stadium operates incredibly well for Cowboys games and how we want it to. It’s a different crowd. Different set of circumstances. The stadium is being used very differently. The spaces that we use for Cowboys games, some of them weren’t used; some of them were used very differently.”
That settles that! Even if its players continue to drop touchdown passes, the NFL organization and Jones refuse to block the glare.