Coutdown to SB XLV Kickoff- Record-breaking crowd expected - Ingles

Friday, January 28 2011

Although the NFL emphasizes over and over that seating arrangements for next Sunday's Super Bowl are still being finalized, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday that "about 105,000 or so" people are expected to be at Cowboys Stadium, which, of course, would set a new Super Bowl attendance record.

McCarthy said that roughly 100,000 tickets have been sold -- 95,000 in the stands and about 5,000 in the outdoor party plaza area. Throw in an additional 5,000 or staff and media members, and "there will be about 105,000 or so at the stadium" on Feb. 6.

The Super Bowl attendance record of 103,985 was set in 1980 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The Cowboys, of course, packed more than 105,000 into the stadium for the first regular-season home game in 2009, but around 30,000 of those were standing-room tickets in the end zone party plazas (inside the building.) The NFL is installing about 15,000 temporary seats for the Super Bowl, wiping out all three decks of the end zone plazas.

But Bill McConnell, the NFL's director of event operations, said during a stadium tour Thursday that the league will sell around 500 standing-room tickets that will allow fans to watch the game from platforms in the end zone stairwells. This article was written by Andrean Ahles and appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.