The Dallas Cowboys have sold naming rights to their massive training complex under construction in suburban Frisco, as the team unveiled The Ford Center at The Star, set to open in August 2016.
The new $115 million Cowboys training complex was funded by the city of Frisco and the Frisco Independent School District, who will share training facilities with the Cowboys. The centerpiece of the facility: a 12,000-seat indoor stadium that will be used by the school for high school football, soccer and other big events, and by the Cowboys for practices and scrimmages. All in all, the complex is 700,000 square feet — while Texas Stadium, former home of the Cowboys, was 900,000 square feet.
But selling national naming rights to a training complex co-owned by a school district shows a remarkable amount of chutzpah. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Stephen Jones, chief operating officer for the Cowboys, wouldn’t divulge what Ford Motor Co. paid to secure the sponsorship extension and naming rights agreement for the headquarters.
“At the end of the day we all know there’s money involved and you have to have resources to build these things and make differences,’’ Jones said. “Then what you ultimately hope — no different than us executing on an off-season plan — is you get a return on the investment.
“Obviously, Frisco’s betting on that, we’re betting on that, and they’re betting on a lot more than it being a neat place for the Cowboys to be. They want it to build young people’s lives and make them into people that are able to follow their dreams to be successful.’’