The star of the show, aside from the winner in today’s fight between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and challenger Joshua Clottey of Ghana, will be the venue.
The Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in the United States is bound to share the limelight with the boxers as it will provide a rare experience for fans viewing the match whether from there or from their homes in the Philippines.
Most Filipinos have little or no exposure with gigantic and top-class sports venues. What is dubbed as a coliseum or stadium here would greatly pale in comparison with the world’s largest domed stadium.
The boxing match between Pacquiao and African welterweight challenger Clottey will be a rare experience for Filipino viewers, if not for the actual fight then at least for the venue.
The Cowboys Stadium is a sports venue that can sit 80,000 people. It is home to the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys. According to its architecture fact sheet, the Cowboys Stadium site covers 73 total acres; the overall site encompasses 140 total acres. (Official website is at http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/)
The stadium is three million square feet with retractable walls and roof. At 660,800 square feet, the stadium’s roof is one of the largest domed sports structures in the world, the fact sheet said. The stadium features two monumental arches, soaring 292 feet above the playing field.
It has the world’s largest 1080p HDTV video board worth US $40 million, a media report on the website said. The screens will be suspended 90 feet directly over the center of the playing surface and stretch from nearly one 20-yard line to the other. “This is the first center-hung video board in football history,” said Jerry Jones, owner and general manager of Dallas Cowboys Football Club. “The innovative technology will give every fan a great seat and the view is better than watching a 60 inch HDTV in your living room. You will be able to see the players as if you were standing on the sidelines.”
It was completed on May 27, 2009.
Filipino boxing fans can expect to be treated not only to Pacquiao’s latest fight but also to the latest development in sports venues.
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If you can’t be at the Cowboys Stadium or near a television with pay-per-view connection for today’s fight, you may view the match dubbed as “The Event” from your computer connected to the Internet.
Log on to the Sun.Star website at www.sunstar.com.ph and click on the Pacquiao blog icon to be brought to almost real-time reports on the fight. The website special carries news reports, basic information on the fighters, and photos of the battle. It also has a list of where to watch the fight if you’re looking for a restaurant or a theater showing it.
Website visitors are encouraged too to submit their own reports of how they are watching the show or celebrating a victory or mourning a defeat by sending text reports or photos to sunnex@sunstar.com.ph or sunnex1@sunstar.com.ph.
(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)