Our football stadium in Arlington was just two years old — and not yet named AT&T Stadium — when North Texas hosted Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
- The weather was awful, and there weren’t enough seats. It was embarrassing.
What happened: An ice storm paralyzed the region for several days, drawing ridicule from colder cities that are better equipped to handle winter weather.
- Ice falling from the stadium’s roof injured several workers the Friday before the big game.
- “I-30 between Dallas + Fort Worth is a plow-less, snow-windswept moonscape. This is officially a debacle,” Sports Illustrated writer Peter King tweeted at the time.
And: A shortage of seats at the stadium on Game Day left hundreds of ticket holders without a seat, leading to lawsuits that took years to settle.
But, but, but: The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers got to play under Cowboys Stadium’s closed roof, a reprieve from the bitter cold conditions that they usually face at home.
- The Packers won 31-25.
The bottom line: We haven’t hosted a Super Bowl since.
