World's Longest
Single-Span Roof

Cowboys Stadium
Arlington, Texas

When this new, $1.5 billion, 80,000-seat home of NFL’s Dallas Cowboys opened in 2009, it set at least three structural engineering world records: the longest single-span roof structure; the largest center-hung HD video display; and the world's largest operable glass doors.

 

The 14,100-ton, structural steel, domed roof is supported by two 17-foot-wide by 35-foot-deep arch box trusses spanning 1,225 feet. The 660,800-square-foot retractable roof features a 256-feet wide by 410-feet long roof opening. It has the first application of a rack-and-pinion retractable roof drive system in North America that opens and closes the bi-parting roof panels in less than 12 minutes.

Both end zones feature 180-foot-wide by 120-foot-high glass operable doors that open in 18 minutes, and the stadium is a leader in environmental performance.

Cowboys Stadium was named "Sports Facility of the Year" by Sports Business Journal and has won countless engineering design awards.

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