The 2022 National Football League season is just around the corner, and the Dallas Cowboys are planning to start off the year with a brand new event. The Blue-Carpet Kickoff will be held on August 25, the night before the final preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks.
The event will be held at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, and only invited guests will be allowed into the stadium. However, the Cowboys are making sure that as many fans as possible can enjoy the experience, inviting the public to gather outside the stadium in the Tostitos Championship Plaza and watch the players walk the “Blue Carpet” from the plaza to the stadium.
The indoor festivities will be broadcast outside on the Tostitos Championship Plaza big board for fans to watch live. The event will also be broadcast nationally on the NFL Network in a segment-type show.
The Blue-Carpet Kickoff will feature an awards show and opportunities for Cowboys fans to meet players, including the newest draft picks and undrafted free agents, ahead of the final roster cuts before the season opens on September 11.
In addition to current and future players, fans will hear from former Cowboys legendary players, including Roger Staubach, DeMarcus Ware, Drew Pearson, Everson Walls, and Darren Woodson. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will have a special performance at the event.
The awards portion of the event will feature “Playmaker” and “Breakthrough” awards and will also honor some of the Cowboys’ greats from seasons past. The players will present an award for the top media personality they selected. Team Owner Jerry Jones and Head Coach Mike McCarthy will also speak about the upcoming season, their goals for the team, and what their expectations are for the players and coaches.
This will be the first time that the Cowboys have hosted an event of this kind ahead of the season. The team hopes to improve its already-rabid fan base by infusing some enthusiasm and getting the season off to a great start after the disappointing conclusion of the 2021 season.
In years past, the Cowboys have begun the season with the “Cowboys Kickoff Classic,” a college football game featuring teams playing on “neutral” ground. Last season, the game featured Kansas State and Stanford, but the game drew only 28,668 fans. It was the lowest turn-out since the event began in 2009 and only the second time fewer than 60,000 fans attended.
This season, the team decided to pull the plug on the game after it became apparent that college teams were not interested in paying the fee to play at AT&T Stadium.
“The Classic is all about finding the right matchups that’ll make sense in the building– teams that want to play and the right financial deal. And we just weren’t able to do that this year,” Cowboys Executive VP of Business Operations said earlier this year.
The Dallas Cowboys will host just one preseason game this year. Prior to the home game against the Seahawks, Dallas will take to the road for a matchup against the Denver Broncos on August 13 and another game at the Los Angeles Chargers on August 20.
The Cowboys will hold joint practices with both teams ahead of the games. Fans can attend the Denver game, but only season-ticket holders for the Chargers are invited to the second preseason game.
