ARLINGTON — The Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers have reached a deal to share parking spaces. The move ensures there’ll be room for most ticket holders at the new 80,000-seat Cowboys stadium in Arlington to park within about a mile — or a 20-minute walk.
It also means the two teams must work closely together each year on scheduling. The football and baseball seasons overlap between August and October, including the preseason and playoffs.
“We’ll work within our dates to ensure we don’t have games going on in the same time period,” Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones said.
The Cowboys and Rangers each control about 12,000 parking spots. Together, they can provide most of the parking needed for regular season events at the football stadium. A capacity crowd of 80,000 people could bring as many as 26,675 cars into the area. And, the stadium can be expanded to 100,000 seats for big events such as the 2011 Super Bowl, when as many as 33,350 parking spots may be needed. For those extreme cases, Cowboys officials have identified parking spaces within a two-mile radius.
The Texas Rangers will keep almost 100 percent of the game-day parking revenue generated by football traffic on their lots, said Rob Matwick, Rangers executive vice president of ballpark operations. The only exception is a small number of spots that may be presold by Cowboys ticket representatives, who would then get a small percentage of the sale as a commission.
Matwick declined to disclose how much Cowboys fans will be charged for parking in Rangers lots. For baseball games, the regular price is $12 per car. But the cost could be higher for football parking.
Cowboys officials have already disclosed that they’re charging $750 per season — or the equivalent of $75 a game, including preseason and regular season contests — for premium parking up close to the stadium. Other parking prices have not been publicized.
“Our prices will be a step down from what they’re paying in the Cowboys lot,” Matwick said. “Proximity to the stadium will play a major factor.”
On Cowboys lots, the cost to motorists includes a $3 parking fee, which according to the team’s agreement with the city goes toward repayment of $147.8 million in construction bonds. But football fans who park in Rangers lots will not pay that $3 fee, Matwick said. Bonds sold for the Texas Rangers’ facility are already paid off.
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