Report: City of Arlington to pay off Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium a decade early, saves $150 million

Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium will be paid off years ahead of schedule. According to Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports, the city of Arlington, Texas, which owns the Cowboys stadium, will make a $22.6 million payment on the venue. It will be the final payment, and the debt ends a decade early.

Arlington was originally scheduled to pay the $325 million in total contributions until 2035. The debt was paid off sooner because of the revenue from a sales-tax increase, car rental taxes and hotel occupancy taxes, and all were approved by local voters in 2004.

“Ten years early saves you a lot of interest and a lot of fees,” Arlington city manager Trey Yelverton told the city council. “Because of how we’ve structured things, we’re able to pay them off early, and because we’re paying this one off early, we continue to be in a good position for Globe Life Field.”

Arlington paid $490,3 million in total principal, interest and fees toward AT&T Stadium, but saved more than $150 million in additional interest and fees. The Cowboys paid the remaining $1.2 million in construction costs for the stadium.

More on the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium

The Cowboys have called AT&T Stadium home since May 2009. The stadium has a capacity of as much as 100,000 and has hosted multiple big sporting events, including Super Bowl XLV and the College Football Playoff National Championship game in 2015.

During the 2024 season, AT&T Stadium became a story when Cowboys players had issues finding the ball during an a late afternoon game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked about placing shades on the stadium during games.

“My biggest thought when we were building it was, ‘Don’t have it look like it’s not outdoors. Make it look like it’s outdoors,’” Jones said, per CBS Sports. “That stadium was built to feel like it’s outdoors when you’re indoors, and it was built to have sunlight coming in.”

Jones then said the team knows where the sun will be, which should be an advantage. “It should be an advantage to the home team, so I don’t want to adjust it for one reason because it is an advantage to us,” he said. “…That’s our advantage. That should be our advantage. We get to play there more and we get to have it as an advantage. It has been an advantage for us to know where the sun is. I don’t want to change that.”