Mark the date on your calenders: the first Super Bowl ever in North Texas will be played on Feb. 6, 2011, and North Texas leaders promise they will be ready.
This will be the "biggest event ever produced in North Texas," promised Bill Lively, president and CEO of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee.
The yet-to-be-named Dallas Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington will host Super Bowl XLV. The massive stadium is nearing completion, with workers on target to finish the $1.1 billion project in less than five months.
"I cannot wait to have it here," said Scott Woodrow, the director of stadium engineering. "This stadium is the greatest thing on Earth."
The Dallas Cowboys' new home is three times the size of Texas Stadium and will seat 80,000 fans. The massive scoreboard alone weighs 600 tons and stretches more than 50 yards wide above the center of the field.
"It's the greatest home theater system you've ever had, just sitting right in front of you", Woodrow said.
The stadium's retractable roof and glass doors at either end zone will give fans a feel for the outdoors.
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"We can close that roof, open the doors and still have almost an outside feel yet keep the elements off the players," Woodrow said.
Some fans will be able to watch the game from field-level suites directly behind the player benches.
"This is an experience no other NFL stadium will have," Woodrow said. "It's a fan thing."
The mayors of Arlington, Dallas and Fort Worth joined a contingent of North Texans attending this year's Super Bowl in Tampa, looking ahead to Super Bowl XLV.
"I firmly believe that with all the cities working together, it will be the best Super Bowl ever produced," Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said.
Traffic troubles in Tampa convinced the mayors to spend more time tackling transportation issues here at home.
"We've got to work on that and make sure people can get to and from the stadium easily," Cluck said.
But the payoff could be tremendous.
"It's a chance to showcase everything that's happening in North Texas to over a billion people," Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said. "We want to make sure we set the stage to have many Super Bowls in the future."
The new stadium will help.
"We're going to have a phenomenal stadium -- the finest stadium in the world," said Cowboys great Roger Staubach, the chair of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee.
