AT&T Stadium rich revenue help settle debt

Article posted by Coliseum, August 27^th, 2025

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Recently, the City of Arlington paid off its obligation for the AT&T Stadium (Texas, US) debt a decade early saving more than $150 million in interest and fees than was projected when voters approved the project.

The City of Arlington made its final payment – $22.6 million – on August 15^th, 2025.

‘arlingtontx.gov’ stated that in 2004 the Arlington voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase, a two percent hotel occupancy tax and a five percent rental car tax to pay for the City of Arlington’s $325 million contribution toward a new retractable-roof stadium that would bring the National Football League (NFL) team Dallas Cowboys to town.

New York (US)-based the National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world.

The 80,000-capacity AT&T Stadium is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) and was completed on May 27^th, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic (a prestigious American college football Bowl game), the Big 12 Championship Game (a college football game) and the Southwest Classic (an annual college football rivalry game).

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (a vast Metropolitan area in North Texas). The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference East Division.

‘arlingtontx.gov’ further stated that the public-private project was originally estimated to cost $650 million with the Dallas Cowboys paying the other half of the construction costs. The venue topped $1.2 billion when it opened in Arlington’s Entertainment District (a major sports, entertainment and tourism hub) in 2009 with the Cowboys paying for all the expenses beyond the City’s $325 million contribution.

Arlington’s debt, issued in 2005, was originally expected to be repaid in full over 30 years. But the City advanced through that debt much sooner thanks to good revenue performance and refinancing and early redemptions which saved millions of dollars in interest and fees over the years.

The AT&T Stadium, which can hold 100,000 people, has hosted numerous high-profile national and international sports and entertainment events over the past 16 years including the Super Bowl XLV, two record-setting World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE – a major global sports entertainment and media company that produces professional wrestling content for various platforms including television, live events and digital media) WrestleMania, the world’s largest professional wrestling promotion held each year between mid-March and mid-April and Taylor Swift’s (American singer-songwriter) The Eras Tour (Swift’s sixth and highest-grossing concert tour running from March 2023 to December 2024). Arlington’s world-class stadium was also selected as the host venue for nine 2026 FIFA World Cup™ games.

The Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League champion for the 2010 season. The Packers beat the Steelers 31-25.

Maintained Jim Ross, Mayor of Arlington, “As we celebrate this milestone it’s important to acknowledge the former Mayor Robert Cluck’s vision to bring the Dallas Cowboys to Arlington. His foresight and the Arlington voters’ support to invest in a world-class stadium has created jobs, boosted our economy over the years and cemented Arlington’s reputation as a premier destination for sports and entertainment. The iconic AT&T Stadium has hosted an impressive list of events in its first 16 years and we look forward to even more record-setting concerts and games in our future.”

Construction Debt

In 2004, the Arlington voters approved a half-cent sales tax, a two percent hotel occupancy tax and a five percent rental car sales tax to tackle the City’s $325 million contribution to the stadium construction. Those funding sources, paid by the residents and Arlington’s 16 million-plus annual visitors, currently generate about $55 million a year.

By law this revenue can only be used to repay the City’s stadium debt. It cannot be added to the General Fund which pays for the core City services. The City does not use property tax or sales tax revenue dedicated for the General Fund to pay for the stadium debt.

In total, the City paid $490,325,273 in principal, interest and fees for the stadium. Because the debt was repaid a decade early Arlington’s costs were nearly $151 million less than what was projected when the 30-year debt was first issued in 2005.

The half-cent sales tax, the two percent hotel occupancy tax and the five percent rental car sales tax will remain in place. This is because the Arlington voters in 2017 approved these funding sources for the City’s contribution toward the 40,300-capacity Globe Life Field (Arlington, Texas) construction.

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