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Cowboys Stadium could be the future of big-time college football

ARLINGTON, Texas - I've been lucky enough over the years to see games in dozens of stadiums, college and pro. If you remove the history and nostalgia of places like Lambeau Field or the Rose Bowl, none compare to Cowboys Stadium.

It's impossible to walk through the stadium, which cost roughly $1.2 billion, and not be impressed. Cowboys Stadium is like the new Yankee Stadium - it's unfair to compare it to other regular stadiums. Those venues are built to blow away anyone that walks through the doors, and they both accomplish that. And yes, seeing the video board above the field at Cowboys Stadium alone is worth the trip. There's no other football stadium like it.

Even though Cowboys Stadium was built for the, well, Cowboys, it seems like a natural fit to be a big part of college football's future.

The new college football playoff opens up the possibility of a new tradition. Already, the playoff administration has said it will be headquartered in Dallas. The Cotton Bowl, Cowboys and Cowboys Stadium formed a non-profit entity to bid on the title game. It makes too much sense to not happen. The championship game will go to the highest bidder. Semifinal games will rotate among chosen bowls, and the Cotton Bowl could be included in that group. And it would be surprising if it's not.

Cowboys Stadium is big enough to hold 100,000 people for a big game. Super Bowl XLV had a crowd of 103,219. Already the venue has hosted huge events, and Dallas does a good job. We all know Jerry Jones is happy to show of his building and be in the news, and being in the middle of college football's new playoff fits that. The Cowboys Classic to start the season and the Cotton Bowl Classic prove that the stadium does just fine for the college game as well as the NFL.

The Cotton Bowl tonight isn't one of the BCS bowls (although it got one of the best matchups in Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M). But look around this ridiculous stadium. It will be carving its own piece of college football history for many years to come.

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