The ultra-modern stadium located in the Dallas metropolitan area will host one of the most popular sporting events in the USA. This is not its first rodeo in this field, as Cowboys’ home arena had already hosted this basketball competition in the past.

The modern football stadium is required to do more than host NFL games and perhaps the occasional rock concert to earn its daily bread. Multi-purpose use is the watchword for the 21st century stadium, but it is something that has been more commonly seen outside the US than within it so far. Australia’s MCG hosts cricket in the winter and football in summer. Wembley in the UK and Eden Garden in New Zealand both host all manner of sports. Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam is a soccer ground that also hosts sports ranging from NFL to kickboxing. 

© Beck Duggleby

AT&T Stadium in Arlington, forever known as Cowboys Stadium to most of us, is a rare example of an NFL stadium with truly multi-purpose credentials. It has just been confirmed as the host venue for the NCAA Men's Final Four college basketball event in 2030. Let’s find out more about the stadium and why it is such a great choice for this event. 

Basketball’s ever-growing audience

Traditionally, football and baseball are played in stadia with tens of thousands of seats while basketball is in your local high school arena. At least, that often looks like the case. The fact is that according to most opinion polls and surveys, basketball has now overtaken baseball as the second most popular sport in the US. 

In the NBA, arenas are consistently sold out during the regular season and the best NBA betting sites are seeing more traffic than ever. The NBA's popularity is inevitably rubbing off on college basketball too, and there is no greater evidence than the decision to host the Final Four at one of the biggest NFL stadia by capacity.

© Brandi Korte (cc: by-nc-nd)

Room for 80,000 – or more

When the $1.3 billion AT&T Stadium opened for business in 2009, its 80,000 capacity made it the biggest in the NFL. But that wasn’t even the full story. Reconfiguring the seating can increase the capacity to six figures, and just weeks after opening, an incredible 105,121 spectators sat down to watch the Giants play the Cowboys. It’s a regular season record that still stands 13 years later. In case you were wondering, the visitors won a 33-31 thriller.

Whether quite that many will be in attendance for the Final Four in 2030 is another matter. However, the incredible capacity of the AT&T Stadium will undoubtedly be put to good use. It will be the second time the stadium has hosted the Final Four – the previous occasion was in 2014, and 79,238 attended the Championship Game to see the Connecticut Huskies overcome the Kentucky Wildcats by a margin of 60-54. 

That remains the highest attendance in the recorded history of NCAA Championship games. Last year, the Final Four was held at Caesar’s Superdrome in New Orleans and 70,000 fans showed up for the final, while 2021’s event had severely limited numbers in attendance due to the partial restrictions that were still in place at the time due to wider global events.  

© Andrew Cruz