Dallas

Red River Showdown Brings Dallas Big Money

The Red River Showdown between the University of Texas and Oklahoma University brings big cash to Dallas this weekend.

The annual Texas-OU football game happens Saturday morning at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park, but many fans arrived Friday and began spending money, even before the big day Saturday.

"Retailers have Black Friday, we call this green Saturday," said McKinney Avenue Tavern owner Al Mack. "This is our busiest day of the year."

As fans watched baseball at his business Friday, Mack was adding extra equipment for the bigger football crowd Saturday.

Amtrak's Heartland Flier delivered a trainload of Oklahoma University fans arrived at Dallas Union Station Friday afternoon.

Page Dobson, 80, said he seen every Texas-OU game since 1964.

"We don't miss this game," he said. "We're here to gig 'em up tomorrow. Sooners are going to kill them."

His son, David Dobson, said he has a 39-year attendance streak going on spending some Oklahoma cash in his Dallas visit.

"I'll leave some here for sure, and I think it's a great idea keeping it at the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park because it's a great economic boost for the City of Dallas. I'd hate to see this game leave Fair Park," he said.

Dallas invested more than $80 million in Cotton Bowl improvements over the past decade to help keep the game from leaving. The schools are committed to play in Fair Park through 2025.

The Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the game brings more than $32 million to the city each year.

To help visitors avoid parking hassles, Dallas Area Rapid Transit will run special trains Saturday directly to Fair Park on the red and blue lines in addition to green line trains that always serve the park.

"We have direct trains coming from the north in Carrollton, direct trains from the north in Plano, and then the green line circular through downtown picking people up and dropping them off," said DART Spokesman Mark Ball.

The extra green line circular route makes parking in downtown garages another option to parking in Fair Park lots.

Visitors can plan a light rail trip to Fair Park with DART's Go Pass smart phone app, which also offers discounts on fair admission.

The weekend got started with a music festival called The Reunion, and the inaugural event was headlined Friday night by the group Weezer.

The event was produced by CrowdSource, the events company of The Dallas Morning News, in partnership with Reunion Tower and Hunt Realty Investments, which owns the property.

Organizers hope to make The Reunion an annual event.

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