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Posted
1 minute ago, Vanilla Strange Gato said:

I don’t accept drinks from boys in Sperry’s and pastel polos or fishing shirts, so there wasn’t a chance for them to roofie me and touch me like I was one of their dates. 

You want to drug some PITA girl that's already stumbling drunk and have to drag her ass out of the stadium, through the fair, and to a car you shared with a half dozen other people.  Yeah, no.  

Posted
4 minutes ago, Vanilla Strange Gato said:

I don’t accept drinks from boys in Sperry’s and pastel polos or fishing shirts, so there wasn’t a chance for them to roofie me and touch me like I was one of their dates. 

YARN | You certainly wouldn't be in any danger. | It's ...

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Vanilla Strange Gato said:

I don’t accept drinks from boys in Sperry’s and pastel polos or fishing shirts, so there wasn’t a chance for them to roofie me and touch me like I was one of their dates. 

Your fraternity stereotypes are 20 years old.

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Posted
Did some people have a bad experience? Maybe, sure, whatever. Plenty of water vendors in sections 115-112 but YMMV.
But overall the renovations worked wonders for the most important issue: getting people in and out of the stadium quickly. For proof, look at how full the stands were before the start of the game. In previous years, it took me 30-40 minutes to get to my seat, sometimes missing kickoff. This year, probably 10-15; legitimately did not know what to do with all of the free time.
And judging by how full the stands were 5-10min before kickoff, my experience was not unique.

Nah, many more people arrived in the stadium based on previous issues getting in so they entered earlier. The stadium should not be halfway full one hour before kick. I was amazed.
Posted
31 minutes ago, Ghost of NMAS said:

Any of y'all that had problems are doing it wrong.  You get there early and park your ass in your seats and don't move until after the eyes are sung at after the game is over.  No beer, no water, and if you need to piss you do it in your pants.

The three people who were with me left a combined 5 times during the game and didn’t have much trouble. I’ve never been to a game that had no issues with bathrooms or concessions. It’s the nature of that many people being in a confined space. The last couple of years, the water and beer vendors have been all around. 

1 minute ago, Red Five said:

I don’t think functioning water fountains and sinks is too much to ask for, post tens of millions of dollars worth of renovations.

They have not turned the water fountains back on since Covid. That’s a different issue than concessions. 

Posted

no one is asking for five-star amenities

the state fair corporation makes a lot of money that pays a lot of people a shit load of salary for working one month a year

it's time they are held accountable

everyone whining about the complainers and expecting everyone to just roll over and accept enshittification can eat a bag of dicks

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Posted
41 minutes ago, Ghost of NMAS said:

Any of y'all that had problems are doing it wrong.  You get there early and park your ass in your seats and don't move until after the eyes are sung at after the game is over.  No beer, no water, and if you need to piss you do it in your pants.

I think I went 7 hours without pissing Saturday afternoon. Didn’t start drinking heavy until post game though. 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, hornbri said:

The shit show is part of the charm.

europe does 1000-year-old structures with large crowds just fine

we can't even manage with a venue that's not yet 100

if line in the sand is not drawn now, just wait until the ASSWATER starts leaking in to those fancy new suites.....

at that point all of you "just bend over and take it" crowd will have no fight left to fight

the cigars will just take it home and home and fuck the fair and whatever years are left on their contract

the cotton bowl opened in 1930

you have 4 years to stop the tide of enshittification before the corporates take away your opportunity to swim in ASSWATER

the current deal runs through 2035 but it can be walked from at anytime

9 minutes ago, hornbri said:

The shit show is part of the charm.

there won't be any shitshow after 2030 if the big money gets tired of the charm

Posted
1 hour ago, Skipper said:

Pretty clear from the posts that it's a night and day difference between if you were on the renovated west side or non-renovated east side which happened to also be the side everyone was baking in the sun so non-renovated concourses extra crowded.  The west side was much improved.  Hopefully when they work on the east side the mensa candidates designing it can add a few more urinals to the restrooms. It's not rocket science.  Only 4 urinals in a restroom meant to be utilized by 1000+ people is true design malpractice, but still overall much better and next season i'm just going to go scout out where a bigger restroom is pregame.

Ahhh ok I didn’t know the other side wasn’t done yet. Haha. I sat on that side last year and never again for a 2:30 game. It’s brutal.

Posted
The only thing that pisses me off(pun intended) is the restroom situation.  everything else I can deal with and is part of the experience.

Tell that to the ladies waiting 30 minutes in line to piss.

Team East Side - there were several moments when we were moments away from being crushed in the concourse. Also, no water to be found.

I think we can all agree the Cotton Bowl is a shithole, but it’s our shithole.
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Posted
On 10/12/2025 at 10:13 AM, tbone_ said:

$150 million for a stadium that hosts 1 game a year?

It also hosts high school football, Dallas Trinity(women’s pro soccer), international soccer games(Mexico recently played there and it almost sold out), and in a few years they’ll be the home of a new men’s pro soccer club Atletico Dallas. 

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Posted
6 hours ago, Tex Pete said:

You did just remind me that that unbearable motherfucker Bob Cole did somehow get ahold of a microphone (or was it a bullhorn?) before the game and started yelling “TEXAS!” “Fight!” trying to get the chant going. Thankfully, the PA system isn’t great, so we could barely hear him. 

Texas fans have been chanting that since long before some self-important blowhard decided we needed his help. Maybe Bob could lead the Whisper Chant in a sound proof room somewhere. I’d vote for it. 

Maybe Texas-OU just isn’t for you, sport. 

Man, fuck Bob Cole sooooo much. 

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Posted
4 hours ago, Ghost of NMAS said:

Any of y'all that had problems are doing it wrong.  You get there early and park your ass in your seats and don't move until after the eyes are sung at after the game is over.  No beer, no water, and if you need to piss you do it in your pants.

This is the way.

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, wood said:

Man, fuck Bob Cole sooooo much. 

I also remember Bob Cole announcing a wet t-shirt contest at Joe’s Volcano on North Lamar around 1995. That was way better than his hype work. 

Edited by Tex Pete
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Posted (edited)
15 hours ago, Skipper said:

Pretty clear from the posts that it's a night and day difference between if you were on the renovated west side or non-renovated east side which happened to also be the side everyone was baking in the sun so non-renovated concourses extra crowded.  The west side was much improved.  Hopefully when they work on the east side the mensa candidates designing it can add a few more urinals to the restrooms. It's not rocket science.  Only 4 urinals in a restroom meant to be utilized by 1000+ people is true design malpractice, but still overall much better and next season i'm just going to go scout out where a bigger restroom is pregame.

It's code. 

New code requires a crap ton of space, as they can't do troughs or put urinals super tight together. 

If you went to Ohio State you experienced this first hand. Their newer upper deck concourse had two men's restrooms per sideline, each with only 4 urinals and 4 stalls. Which again isn't a tiny restroom. As with concessions and mechanical it is all they could squeeze in an addition a full football field plus concourse (4 total restrooms, 2 men and 2 women). 

I estimated there were 8 urinals for 12,000 people. Most of which were men. Let's call it 8 urinals for 8,000 guys. Not good. 

But if you ran down the stairs to the tiny 200 level, there was a tiny old boiler room sized restroom that was jammed under the seats in a corner and only 5 foot tall on one wall, and they crammed 12 urinals and 2 stalls in the tiny space because it was built 100 years ago, so thus current code didn't apply. 

Even better if you were willing to walk all the way down to the main level, they had huge restrooms with spots of 100-plus to piss at troughs all at one time. 

Guys, at the horseshoe, one of the premier venues for the one of the biggest programs in college football, there were men waiting in a 50-yard line for the restroom BEFORE kickoff. 

At halftime, I would hate to see it. 

Same or worse at the Big House, as each section has something like 90 rows and one single portal to get in and out. Benefit of there, like the Rose Bowl is since it's practically a single level, you can walk down the hill to larger open air spaces to circulate and go to restroom or find concessions.

The secret to the cotton bowl upper deck is the views are amazing because you are so close to the field, and you can get up and down to the main concourse (and out to the fair at half) in seconds going down the stairs. 

Every year I head out the back straight through to the food and fiber building to the Texas products market, buy 12 waters for everyone in my group and section, and a whole other bag of snacks, and walk back over, hike up stairs and am back in the seat long before second half kicks off. 

State Fair could solve this issue without millions of dollars in renovations by sacrificing the entire area around the stadium for those six hours once a year, establishing the security fence/ticket area further out on the other side of the road that circles and bringing in 2x the number of vendors and portable toilets. 

The fair is run by morons, but if CDC and Drew Martin took over the management of the second Saturday in October, and were given additional real estate to run it, most if not all of the issues could be solved. 

For example, what if on each end of the outer perimeter there was an in house Fletchers stand, that would also eliminate so much of the chaos people experience outside the game before and after. 

The main issue there is that area on the East Side main gate is one of the most valuable spaces the Fair rents to big brands, and the Fair is a month long event that doesn't want to, or even know how to, be flexible for the premier event and biggest draw. 

 

Edited by TheYoungHorn
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Posted
2 hours ago, TheYoungHorn said:

State Fair could solve this issue without millions of dollars in renovations by sacrificing the entire area around the stadium for those six hours once a year, establishing the security fence/ticket area further out on the other side of the road that circles and bringing in 2x the number of vendors and portable toilets. 

The fair is run by morons, but if CDC and Drew Martin took over the management of the second Saturday in October, and were given additional real estate to run it, most if not all of the issues could be solved. 

For example, what if on each end of the outer perimeter there was an in house Fletchers stand, that would also eliminate so much of the chaos people experience outside the game before and after. 

The main issue there is that area on the East Side main gate is one of the most valuable spaces the Fair rents to big brands, and the Fair is a month long event that doesn't want to, or even know how to, be flexible for the premier event and biggest draw. 

 

Someone in our group mentioned there was a part of the midway this year closer to the stadium (maybe where the busses came in?) that you had to show (not scan) your ticket to get through.  I wonder if they tried to do a mini "outer fence" on that side.  But I 100% agree the outer fence would solve the problem.   They did that for the Stars Winter Classic game.   Huge outer fence and it was so much easier to move around for a sold out event.  Of course, the only fair park attendees that day were going to the game so the 'fair' is what makes it such a unique setting but also pain in the ass for crowd management.

Posted
6 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Someone in our group mentioned there was a part of the midway this year closer to the stadium (maybe where the busses came in?) that you had to show (not scan) your ticket to get through.  I wonder if they tried to do a mini "outer fence" on that side.  But I 100% agree the outer fence would solve the problem.   They did that for the Stars Winter Classic game.   Huge outer fence and it was so much easier to move around for a sold out event.  Of course, the only fair park attendees that day were going to the game so the 'fair' is what makes it such a unique setting but also pain in the ass for crowd management.

I wonder what would happen if you restricted fair access to game tickets only that day.

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Posted
1 minute ago, hornbri said:

I wonder what would happen if you restricted fair access to game tickets only that day.

They'd lose a shit ton of money (the fair)

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Posted
Just now, BabaYaga said:

They'd lose a shit ton of money (the fair)

Would they? I know I would spend more money at the fair if it wasn’t so crowded. The revenue per customer would likely go up, and I bet it is still the biggest fair day of the year. 

It would be an interesting analyst/experiment.

2 minutes ago, hornian said:

Or just until kickoff. 

  That would prob work just fine, and make up a lot of that revenue gap. 

Posted
9 minutes ago, hornbri said:

Would they? I know I would spend more money at the fair if it wasn’t so crowded. The revenue per customer would likely go up, and I bet it is still the biggest fair day of the year. 

It would be an interesting analyst/experiment.

Maybe.  You'd lose families and their revenue and replace it with drunk college kids and fans.  I'd assume they'd still lose enough money to complain enough that this wouldn't ever happen - even though it would make a hell of a game day experience.  

Posted

Yes, the Fair would lose a shit ton of money. 250,000 people attend the Fair gameday. No idea why people with no interest in the game, go that day.  But they do (and all seem to have baby strollers).

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Posted
39 minutes ago, hornbri said:

I wonder what would happen if you restricted fair access to game tickets only that day.

The fair is big enough and so much of the other attractions are not actually impacted by the game, especially during the game. 

They already do shut down on the south end where the locker rooms are to get the busses in and out, and set up a larger staging area you can't walk through as its the area for logistics for team/media. Maybe that's what was mentioned here earlier. 

If they extended the perimeter out, let Texas/OU run GameDay operations instead of the Fair, the whole thing could be a net-plus atmosphere and amenities wise with the stadium as is. 

Biggest issues are getting in and out of stadium, which sounds like West side issues might have been fixed by renovations, followed by bathrooms/health safety stuff on a hot/sunny day (water, shade during breaks, places for people to catch a breath). 

It's actually an easier solution than the problems in an old upper deck (DKR west side for example), and just requires a little extra thought on the layout and planning of the space that is already there. 

The problem here is State Fair of Texas org is the landlord, and we are the tenant, and while we are the biggest event, we are far from the only event as they are running a month long monster with massive events (headliner concerts) 15-plus times. 

So it would require huge focus and leverage from CDC, OU-AD, CIty of Dallas, and perhaps media partners. The thing is, it should be an easy ask because it's not about asking for another round of capital improvements, and if presented right, CDC and Drew Martin should be able to demonstrate that the loss of real estate for one day out of 30, could actually NET more revenue, as they could professionalize the concession experience inside the security perimeter. Instead of volunteer dallas groups running sheds and troughs, they could bring the best of the state Fair into the "game" as a huge percentage of game attendees don't know how to actually navigate the fair itself. 

Numerous mini fletchers throughout perimeter. 

Curated best of fair bites, where they could be hawking the award winning stuff all at one place for a premium if you didn't have to track it down and wait in different lines, while logistics could be ferrying the stuff from the vendors stands right into holders/hot boxes right through a backstage tunnel to the sales outlets inside security. 

Hell, you could even pay for it with your big name sponsors having "activations/retail" outlets inside security area. Loves could have huge walk in and out convenience "stores" setup for their sooner brethren. 

You have to get more real estate, with more square footage you can solve the circulation, bathroom and concession issues. But it would require a truly professional team and trained staff brought in to actively run it. Meaning you would need active staff guiding and live signage telling people where more bathrooms are, how easy they are to get to and what the wait times are, etc. 

Hell, they could even have VIP areas in adjacent areas inside security, with elevated food and beverage offerings to sell as "club" ticket packages, split the revenue with State Fair, and then the sell should be easy. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Skipper said:

Someone in our group mentioned there was a part of the midway this year closer to the stadium (maybe where the busses came in?) that you had to show (not scan) your ticket to get through.  I wonder if they tried to do a mini "outer fence" on that side.  But I 100% agree the outer fence would solve the problem.   They did that for the Stars Winter Classic game.   Huge outer fence and it was so much easier to move around for a sold out event.  Of course, the only fair park attendees that day were going to the game so the 'fair' is what makes it such a unique setting but also pain in the ass for crowd management.

Yeah, assuming that's on the south side where Cotton Bowl meets the midway, it's always fenced up to create the road to get the busses for teams, bands, etc in and out. 

In fact, after the game it's nearly impossible to get across until teams leave, as you have to wander through a choke point on the east side way far down at the corner of the exposition hall to cross back over into the midway, and this is even before busses are actually rolling, which for those few minutes you obviously can't cross. 

Posted
1 hour ago, TxEx84 said:

Yes, the Fair would lose a shit ton of money. 250,000 people attend the Fair gameday. No idea why people with no interest in the game, go that day.  But they do (and all seem to have baby strollers).

holy shit this!  we were walking right by big tex 15 minutes after the eyes and 3 mom's with strollers/wagons are going against the traffic of everyone exiting the stadium.

Posted

At what point do they start checking tickets upon entering the fair? The last few years they have just waved everyone in. If you're just there with your kids to go to the fair, is it free admittance that day?

Posted
At what point do they start checking tickets upon entering the fair? The last few years they have just waved everyone in. If you're just there with your kids to go to the fair, is it free admittance that day?

Who gives a shit? Just lockdown the stadium. We probably have 5000 gate crashers
Posted
10 hours ago, TxEx84 said:

Yes, the Fair would lose a shit ton of money. 250,000 people attend the Fair gameday. No idea why people with no interest in the game, go that day.  But they do (and all seem to have baby strollers).

 Cause it’s the state fair, not the OU/Texas fair you dumb mother fucker

Posted
Who the fuck goes to the fair on Texas ou day?

I was curious earlier and threw it into gpt. It averages about 100k a day average for the whole stint, but weekends obviously up the average over a random Wednesday from 10a-9p.

250k on the ou game. About the same other weekends as well minus the fans.
Posted
3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Who the fuck goes to the fair on Texas ou day?

There's only 4 Saturdays the Fair is open and you're highly overestimating the number of people in DFW who even know the game is happening. I chuckled at the suggestion upthread that the Fair simply cut off non-Texas OU people from entering. Yeah, they're totally going to give up massive daily revenue, not to mention they would have to keep people from entering the parking lot which would create even larger backlogs to get in. At this point, the Fair is what it is. You either accept that the game is going to be an asswhip to get into, around, and out of or you spend your time bitching about it every year. 

Posted

Yea they think they are showing up for a Saturday. Sounds crazy to me but it’s more common than you think. Also how the fuck do some of you get your ass kicker by the cotton bowl every year. It’s not that bad 

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