Soccer returns to Cotton Bowl with Dr Pepper Dallas Cup in 2013

"Fair Park area has just as many drugs as the suburbs, its just better hidden in the burbs."


and our grasping at straws award goes to.........twotone!

yep the fairpark area is really just an oasis of peace and tranquility, with just a butt load of liquor stores and bailbondsmans thrown in. lmao

Who really cares where they play the Dallas Cup? Let's not forget that it is just BOYS soccer.

richardson is Dallas county

The only games being played there are some of the Supergroup games. The rest will be played at UTD and Richland. You will still be able to see multiple games, of all ages, at the other venues. I prefer to watch the younger games any way.

Uncle Numanga wrote:The only games being played there are some of the Supergroup games. The rest will be played at UTD and Richland. You will still be able to see multiple games, of all ages, at the other venues. I prefer to watch the younger games any way.

UTD and Richland are excellent venues to watch the dallas cup! I will even plan a trip to the cotton bowl to see at least one super group match.

let's not be naive. you can get drugs wherever you want to; suburbs or near Fair Park. There are low-income apartments right next door to the Richland College fields. just cuz there's not a liquor store on the corner doesn't mean there aren't people drinking. Oak Cliff is a dry county where you "can't" get it. that doesn't means it's safer. there are liquor stores down the street from Richland College in Richardson. that doesn't mean its more dangerous.

@go99...... everything written has said the City of Dallas is involved, not Dallas County. Fair Park is managed by the city Parks & Rec while both soccer complexes are outside of city limits. i just noticed the irony in saying Dallas stepped up, but its really only for about 10 games. (aside: congrats to Paul Dyer on his retirement from CoDallas P&R Director. really elevated the parks dept. and a big supporter of soccer in Dallas).

Interesting that there is no mention of the Dallas Texans in the article. Was their sponsorship last year a one-and-done undertaking? I hope they weren't involved in this short-sighted stunt.

Clearly this "Heart of Dallas" group came up with $$$ to affect this change. Those Super Group games are going to be ghost towns. Too bad... we always enjoyed them. PHP was the perfect venue for them.

I think the Texas/ou game is held at the deathstar now Very Happy



The Death star??? I think it looks more like giant "engorged Tick" on a coon hound..

all grey and swollen little legs sticking out and cant walk due to the amount of blood it has sucked...

Perhaps some history will shed some light on the decision:

PHP was built by Lamar Hunt for his newly acquired soccer team, the Dallas Burn, which changed their name to FC Dallas. The eternal optimist, Hunt had grandiose plans for PHP. Unfortunately, like some of his other ventures, there was too much emphasis on the dream, and not enough emphasis in the financials.

PHP built the soccer complex without contracts in place with Classic League or LHGCL. They assumed the "if you build it, they will come" mantra would take care of it. LHGCL jumped into a contract with PHP right off (due to Moss being a disaster), but the CCCL did not, due to the fact that Richland is a spectacular facility. PHP lowered it's price and made concessions to the CCCL, and they contracted for some use. But instead of abandoning Richland as the girls did with Moss, they kept it and added a third division to Classic League - therefore providing enough funding to keep Richland up. Dallas Cup also contracted with PHP, and left Lake Higlands stadium, as well as added 3 additional age groups to the tournament due to the increased capacity of PHP.

The fields at PHP deteriorated nearly into sandlots due to the financial troubles at PHP. Due to lack of funds, they were playing a tournament almost every weekend, all of the FC Dallas club was practicing there during the week, etc. The fields were totally being overplayed for a short turf facility. For a few seasons, a significant number of fields were deemed unplayable and remediation efforts were being undertaken. Also during this time, PHP needed to increase revenues, so they began charging for parking, raising fees, etc. LHGCL had nowhere to go, so they took over the UTD fields, and stopped playing at PHP as much. They boys already had Richland, so they were in a better bargaining position. They both ended up scaling back their usage of PHP.

I can only assume that Dallas Cup experienced the frustration with PHP management as well. I have also volunteered a few times at the Dallas Cup offices, and I have seen the logistic issues that were encountered due to hoteling/shuttling of refs, headquarters being in Addison, confusion for visiting teams, etc. It was a full day's worth of driving through traffic to from the Headquarters to a designated hotel, then to a game at Richland, then to PHP and back...etc...it was ugly. I am assuming that PHP raised the prices again, thus inspiring the Dallas Cup execs to seek out other venues. The primary goal of the Dallas Cup (especially under Gordon) was always to promote soccer as a sport, not a moneymaker. I believe with the move to the Cotton Bowl, it will be much cheaper to attend a super-group game than it ever has been. I would be that the upper deck tickets will be quite cheap, and the parking free - as well as access via DART. If played and marketed right, it could be a real event, instead of just another tournament in Frisco, that just happens to use the MLS stadium there too.

Not sure if the Texans are still involved as the host team, but they took over that responsibility a couple years ago after the Longhorns couldn't financially do it anymore (and it fit with their international partnership with ManU)...I never got the indication that the Texans were hugely interested in being the host team, but they were the obvious choice to inherit it. I am sure Hassan is not too keen on having his brand attached to something he doesn't implicitly control. The Longhorns started the tournament, and made it what it is today.