Cowboys fans may have thought nothing could go wrong this season.
As if.
For a brief period late Monday afternoon, it looked as if AT&T Stadium's retractable roof would be open for Monday night's primetime meeting with the Houston Texans. That's now in doubt after some mechanical problem caused a huge piece of metal to fall onto the grass below left more torn-up scrap hanging in the rafters.
Stadium workers began opening the roof several hours before kickoff, a rare occurrence for the venue, which first opened in 2009. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this recently – following recent complaints about the setting sun shining through the east-west facing windows causing problems for players – that the stadium, with its glass walls and retractable roof, was built to be that way it mimics the atmosphere of an outdoor venue.
Yet the roof hasn't been opened for a game in two years, and it has been opened for fewer than 25% of all Cowboys games ever played there.
With perfect conditions predicted for Monday night (and perhaps to provide some distraction from the team's terrible 3-6 record), Jones and the team made the decision to open the roof for the nationally televised game.
But shortly after the roof opened, a large piece of metal fell from the structure. Media representatives from various television stations were already in front of the pitch and reported before the game. The debris can be seen in a video posted by NBC DFW's Noah Bullard.
Here is the large piece of metal that fell retractable roof when opened
— Noah Bullard (@noah_bullard)
The roof was repeatedly closed The Sportyis Jon Machota, The emergency services are investigatingostensibly to determine whether or not it is safe to reopen.
Update: The mandatory 90-minute countdown to kickoff has begun. The roof will remain officially closed for the game as it should have been opened before that deadline.
Although fortunately there were no injuries, the punch lines surrounding the incident can be found here “Trainwreck” of a Cowboys season I'll be writing for some time.
ESPN's Ryan Clark, Speaking from the Monday night countdown Desk placed on the grass in the stadium, cracked: “The finished floor has already fallen out in Dallas; It could be the top too.”
