FC Dallas will return to its old home, the Cotton Bowl, on Sept. 30 when it will face the New England Revolution as part of a doubleheader that also features an international friendly between Mexico and Columbia.
"What a great opportunity to play a pre-game to such a prestigious game for our community," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said during a media address at the Cotton Bowl. "This is an opportunity to come back to a little bit of history. I was very excited when the '94 World Cup was here. What a great opportunity for the Hispanic people in our Metroplex to see the team of their choice and the team of their life as Mexico continues to play so well in the Gold Cup and competing for a bid in the World Cup. I would imagine and hope the stands will be full of passionate people that want to continue to follow their team."
These matches will represent the first high-profile soccer events staged at the Cotton Bowl in a number of years. July's Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals were both played at Cowboys Stadium in neighboring Arlington. The semifinal match between "El Tri" and Haiti drew an some 82,000 fans, setting a soccer attendance record for North Texas. Dallas mayor Tom Leppert, however, predicted an even bigger crowd at the September event. "We all know that there are plenty of fans for both teams (Mexico and Colombia) here in north Texas," Leppert said. "In fact, our goal and I feel confident of it is to fill the Cotton Bowl. That would be 86,000 people and would set a new record for soccer in north Texas. There's no reason we can't hit this."
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