NBA All-Star game at new Cowboys stadium
'Totally outrageous' event likely to be largest crowd to watch league game
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DALLAS - The NBA All-Star game is coming to the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in 2010 and plenty of good seats are available — more than 100,000.
Living up to the old adage about doing things bigger in Texas, the Dallas Mavericks and Cowboys are collaborating on hosting next season’s showcase event. It will be among the first major events at the soon-to-be-completed, $1.1 billion facility in nearby Arlington.
And, if all goes according to plan, this event will set the record for the largest crowd ever to watch an NBA game, shattering the mark of 44,735 set at the 1989 All-Star Game, not-so-coincidentally held at another Texas-sized venue, the Houston Astrodome.
“It’s totally outrageous,” NBA commissioner David Stern said.
Just wait until he hears Mavs owner Mark Cuban’s idea about putting the record out of reach.
“If we can get people to sit on each other’s laps, it could be 200,000,” Cuban said, laughing.
The 2010 All-Star weekend is being hyped as a collaboration between teams and cities. Some events will be held at the Dallas Convention Center, with the Mavericks’ arena hosting the rookie game on Friday night and the Saturday night festivities, which include the 3-point and dunk contests.
The marquee game will be Sunday, with center court right at midfield of the football stadium.
“We’ve got complete flexibility with the configuration,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “That’s what we spent a lot of money on, to adapt it to these kinds of events.”
The Cowboys also are trying to lure Final Fours. They’ve already landed the 2011 Super Bowl, as well as the Cotton Bowl, starting Jan. 1, 2010.
The All-Star announcement came during an outdoor news conference that was as over-the-top as the attendance goal. Marv Albert was the master of ceremonies, the Mavericks dancers took part and it ended with a 10-second countdown to the unveiling of the game’s logo, which features a version of the Cowboys’ star logo in blue and green, the Mavericks’ colors.
Cuban used to be against hosting the All-Star game because he couldn’t accommodate his fans and the league’s commitments. But having it in Jones’ stadium makes everyone happy.
“I started thinking about it the minute I heard of (the stadium plans),” Cuban said. “It was just a question of whether the NBA would go along with it.”
Mavs president Terdema Ussery said it took Stern four months to approve their proposal.
“I just wanted to make sure my guys didn’t think it wasn’t so crazy, and I didn’t think it wasn’t so crazy,” Stern said.
The game will be on Feb. 14, 2010. This season’s game will be in Phoenix.
The All-Star game was in Dallas once before, in 1986. The 3-point contest started that year as the brainchild of a team executive and local product Spud Webb won the dunk contest.
The last football stadium to host the NBA All-Star game was San Antonio’s Alamodome in 1996.
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