Venue
The series began in 1900 and has been played in Dallas since 1912, except for 1913 (Houston), 1922 (Norman, Okla.), and 1923 (Austin). Dallas was chosen as a "neutral" site since it is situated approximately halfway between Austin, Texas and Norman, Oklahoma — the locations of UT and OU, respectively. This also provides both teams an opportunity to showcase themselves for DFW Metroplex-based alumni and potential high-school recruits of both teams.
Since 1932 the game has been held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, during the State Fair of Texas. The designated "home" team alternates from year to year, and ticket sales for the game are split 50–50 between the two schools, with the stadium divided along the 50 yard line. Historically, the Oklahoma fans have occupied the south end zone, which contains the tunnel where both teams enter and exit the field. Beginning in 2007, the teams will have the option to alternate North and South ends of the field, thereby giving the home team fans the seats adjacent to the tunnel leading to both teams' locker rooms. However, Texas declined to exercise its option to move to the south end in 2007 or in 2009.
Officials at both universities had indicated that soon the game may be rotated between each campus because they prefer a venue with more seats, which would mean more revenue — the Cotton Bowl then seated just 68,252; the Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium seated 94,113 (but has subsequently been expanded to 101,000 and will soon be expanded further, and the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium holds 82,112. Additionally, the Cotton Bowl has no luxury suites, is cramped, has narrow seats and its plumbing can be faulty. Renovations to the stadium, however, were completed shortly before the 2008 match solving many of these problems.
To ensure that the game — which produces about $17 million annually for local businesses — stays in Dallas, Dallas mayor Laura Miller supported a bond referendum to pay for more expansion and renovation at the Cotton Bowl. Additionally, the governing board of the State Fair engaged a consultant to prepare plans for a complete renovation. In November 2006, Dallas voters passed a $30 million bond issue for improvements to the stadium in addition to $20 million to come from the city and the State Fair of Texas.
Texas and Oklahoma agreed in 2006 to keep their game at the Cotton Bowl through 2010, but the future of the series remained in doubt. In February 2007, the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic announced it would move to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington in 2010. The game receives a subsidy of $700,000 from the city of Dallas, which will end when the game moves out of Dallas.
In April 2007, Miller announced that Texas and Oklahoma have agreed to keep the game at Fair Park through 2015. The deal increases payouts to the two schools from $250,000 to $850,000, funded in part by the savings from the end of the Cotton Bowl Classic's grant. The stadium has now been renovated with a new video scoreboard, new seats, and many other improvements. Its capacity has been increased to more than 90,000 due to the addition of surrounding upper decks in both end zones. The 2011 match-up brought a crowd of 96,009 to the Cotton Bowl.
Read more about this topic: Red River Rivalry