Hours before the Dallas Cowboys fell to the Houston Texans Monday night, pieces of the roof fell inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
While opening the roof before the Monday night game, pieces of metal came loose from the retractable roof and fell onto the rafters and down to the field. The piece seen in the rafters did not fall to the ground and was stabilized before kick-off, a representative told NBC 5 in an email.
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The stadium was mostly empty when the roof was open, and no injuries were reported.
Officials said winds gusting to 30 mph during the day contributed to the incident, which was being reviewed to ensure the roof can be opened safely at some point in the future. The roof hasn't been opened for a Cowboys game in their $1.2 billion stadium since the 2022 season.
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“I know we opened it long before any fans or anybody is in there,” owner Jerry Jones said after the game. “The reason they do that is to make sure everything is working to avoid those kinds of risks if there’s any fans or anybody in here.”
Jones said there wasn't any risk in continuing the game, which meant a delay or postponement wasn't a consideration.
“They wouldn’t have done this game or started this game had there been any risk at all,” Jones said. “Not only the NFL wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t if there was any risk at all. And there was no risk at all when we started the game.”
The roof was open for only about 15 minutes. It remained closed throughout the game.
Y’all, the roof is open 🤩#HOUvsDAL | #ATTStadium pic.twitter.com/dNO5yTcZYa
— AT&T Stadium (@ATTStadium) November 18, 2024
Several hours before kickoff, AT&T Stadium posted a video on X showing the roof open, but it did not mention falling debris.
Fans said the incident was a metaphor for the season.
"We’re literally falling apart," said Erica Salazar who made a sign with a message about the roof. "Fix the roof! Bring some sunshine into our lives, Jerry, please!"
The city of Arlington released a statement Tuesday saying:
“The City of Arlington’s building inspector and deputy fire marshal have consulted with AT&T Stadium today and determined there are no structural issues with the venue or its retractable roof. The metal piece that fell to the field was a covering lid to a cable tray that was moved by wind gusts as the roof was opening. The cable tray was in the high steel area near the top of the stadium. Additional review and work have been performed to further secure the covering lids for the cable trays.”
The roof is the second recent issue at AT&T Stadium.
Earlier this month, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said he lost sight of a ball in the end zone because of glare from the sun through a window.
"So it sounds like they need curtains around the stadium which Jerry has said he is not going to do, and now the roof is falling down. So it’s sort of like the Cowboys season is crashing down," said Jeff Johnston, a Houston Texans fan.
Heading into Monday night's game, the Cowboys were 3-6 this season. With the loss, they are now 3-7 and are one game better than the 2-8 Giants. The Cowboys play the 7-4 Washington Commanders on Sunday and the Giants on Thanksgiving Day.
