Rangers and Cowboys and Stars, Oh My! Sports in Dallas

DALLAS, TX -- Dallas is one of only a few cities to have teams in six professional team sports: the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball, the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer's Dallas Burn and the Dallas Sidekicks of the World Indoor Soccer League. Millions are entertained each year. The Dallas Cowboys, often referred to as "America’s Team," are one of only two NFL teams to win five Super Bowl championships. Home games are played at the 65,846-seat Texas Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders entertain fans during each home game as well. The Ballpark in Arlington, home of perennial Major League Baseball playoff contender the Texas Rangers, opened in 1994 to rave reviews and record attendance at the new 48,100-seat baseball and entertainment complex. Tours of the Ballpark are conducted year-round, where, depending on the demands of game operations, you will see the clubhouse, press box, batting cages, owner’s suite, and dugout. Success suits the Dallas Stars, who won their first Stanley Cup championship in 1999. Superstars Mike Modano and Eddie Belfour work with general manager Bob Gainey and coach Ken Hitchcock, as the Stars look to continue their success. Sharing the 17,502-seat Reunion Arena with the Stars are the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. The team is rebuilding under owner Mark Cuban, the 41-year-old founder of Broadcast.com who reaped more thatn $1 billion by selling his company to Yahoo!, Inc. in 1999. The Mavericks are led by veteran All-Star Michael Finley and young gun Dirk Nowitzki. The Sidekicks have provided soccer excitement indoors at Reunion Arena since 1988 and the Burn have made their home in the historic Cotton Bowl at Fair Park since beginning play in 1996. Golf is another sport that brings professional players to Dallas for several tournaments each year including the GTE Byron Nelson and the JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game. Several professional golfers call Dallas home including Payne Stewart, David Graham, Bruce Lietzke, Fred Couples, Lannie Wadkins, Justin Leonard and LPGA Hall of Famers Sandra Haynie and Kathy Whitworth. "Real" cowboys and mavericks can be seen in Dallas every weekend during the spring and summer, at the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Professional cowboys and cowgirls come from all over the country to compete for prize money and the applause of the crowd. Collegiate sports action is provided by the region’s numerous colleges and universities, including Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University, both of the Western Athletic Conference. Highlights of the fall collegiate football season include the "Red-River Shootout," the annual contest between the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma; the Al Lipscomb Classic, which pits Grambling vs. Prairie View A&M; and the annual Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic, a major player in the NCAA's college football postseason. All of these games are played in the Cotton Bowl. Visitors to Dallas can also enjoy world-class thoroughbred racing. Lone Star Park, located just 15 minutes from downtown Dallas, offers the best in horse racing. The Post Time Pavilion, the first phase of the park, features a Las Vegas-style racebook, sports bar, and restaurant, complete with 150 television screens and convenient wagering windows. The second phase, which opened in April 1997, contains 8,000 seats in its 270,000-square-foot grandstand. This enclosed structure, with a variety of levels for viewing includes a one-mile oval dirt track, a 7/8ths-mile oval turf track, a chute for 1 1/8-mile turf races and a 550-yard chute for quarterhorse races. World-class auto racing arrived in the Dallas area in 1997, with the opening of the Texas Motor Speedway, the second-largest sports facility in the country and the third-largest in the world. It’s so large that eight Texas Stadiums (home of the Dallas Cowboys) fit in the infield of the raceway. There are 150,000 permanent seats and 194 skybox V.I.P. suites. Dallas also offers a variety of sports activities for the amateur sports enthusiast. With more than 50,000 acres of public parkland in Dallas, tennis, golf, soccer, biking, in-line skating and baseball are all common recreational activities. There are also more then 40 lakes within a 100-mile radius of Dallas. Water sports like fishing, boating and water-skiing are popular ways to keep cool during Dallas’ hot summer months. Visit the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau on the Web at http://www.dallascvb.com/. © 2000, Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau.