'The day of indignity is past'
Edwin Shrake
August 14, 1972
When Clint Murchison Jr. set out at last to build his own football stadium—as any otherwise sane person might elect to do if he had a hundred million dollars or so and owned the world champion professional football team—he did it with such imagination that he may have changed the sport. Standing on the artificial turf inside the upside-down bowl of the new Texas Stadium the other day, a former Dallas Cowboy player said, "I have the odd feeling that the game people came here to see is no longer entirely on the field but has spread into the stands, especially into those opera boxes they call Circle Suites."
Yes, indeed, television. The Stadium Club has TV, there is a nine-inch monitor between every two seats in the press box, and the Circle Suites are studded with color TV (one has six)—all connected to the network telecast that is otherwise blacked out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area when the Cowboys are playing at home. Some Circle Suite sets are placed against rear walls so customers playing bridge with their backs to the field can still see the game.
Or, suppose, so Bob Hayes can catch a touchdown pass and rush back to watch himself on instant replay over the heads of people who are watching him watch himself. That is involvement that makes change for more than a dollar.