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For the past 17 seasons, the Dallas Cowboys have played their home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The venue, best known for its massive video board hanging over the 50-yard line, has been temporarily renamed Dallas Stadium as it hosts several World Cup games.
The end zones, yard markers and artificial turf are gone inside the retractable roof stadium during football games. But one change caught Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer’s attention: curtains installed to block the notorious sunlight from streaming onto the natural grass field.
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Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer looks on before the game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 26, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
“I’m a big … actually World Cup guy. I watch a lot of the games. It’s been cool for me. I’ve been out at The Star and see the watch parties and things that people have had. It sounds like they had the blinders up … the shades,” Schottenheimer told reporters during a press conference earlier this week.
“So it’s majestic as it is when we play our game. The grass and the shadows, it’s not as majestic. They’re going to miss the experience.”
Sunlight shines through the windows of AT&T Stadium during the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants in Arlington, Texas on Oct. 10, 2021. (Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Glaring natural light has been a recurring problem since the Cowboys moved into their billion-dollar home in 2009.
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During a 2017 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, then-Cowboys receivers Dez Bryant and Brice Butler both blamed losing catches in the sun’s glare. A few years later, in a 2021 playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, wideout Cedrick Wilson never seemed to be able to see a pass thrown his way. The following year, Michael Gallup failed to catch what would have been a touchdown completion – again likely due to glare.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith throws a pass during the NFL game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on November 5, 2017. (Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire)
Schottenheimer also leaned into the topic earlier in his first season as Cowboys head coach, sarcastically calling the sunlight cutting through AT&T Stadium “majestic.”
“Well, I’ve been here for a while and I’ve heard about it,” Schottenheimer said in October 2025, via the Associated Press.
“Hey, look, if you could see the process and the plan that we have in place to figure that out. We have satellite images. We have images of the sun as it’s setting. There’s a big plan and process. But I think when you look historically at what’s happened, it really hasn’t affected a lot of situations. We’re planning it. The adversaries’ plan for it, but we’re aware of it. It’s very beautiful, it’s majestic when the sun comes through there.
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AT&T Stadium hosted its first World Cup match on June 14, with the Netherlands and Japan playing to a 1-1 draw. The NFL venue, better known as “Jerry World” in a nod to longtime Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, hosted its second tournament game on Wednesday as England defeated Croatia 4-2.
The curtains were up for both of these matches. They are expected to return on June 22 when Lionel Messi and reigning World Cup champions Argentina face Austria.
