The stadium was also renamed the Cotton Bowl in the lead-up to the game But only 17,000 fans attended the first game Sanford lost a lot of money in the first few years People began referring to the Cotton Bowl as Sanford’s Folly After the 1940 game Sanford gave control of the game to a group of Dallas business officials They formed the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association The group entered into an agreement with the Southwest Conference SWC Every year the SWC champion would play in the Cotton Bowl That relationship ended up lasting more than 50 years The opponent was usually the runner-up The Cotton Bowl parade is a traditional part of the festivities in Dallas 6
or third-place team from the Southeastern Conference SEC Sometimes a major independent program such as Notre Dame played That system lasted through the 1994 season Many great players and great teams played in the Cotton Bowl For years it was considered one of the most important bowl games every season Through 2015 the Texas Longhorns had appeared in the Classic 22 times more than any other school Texas A M had appeared 13 times and Arkansas had 12 appearances All three were SWC powers Georgia Tech’s R J Jordan 46 breaks through the Texas defensive line at the 1943 Cotton Bowl 7
But in 1996 the SWC broke up Several SWC schools joined the Big 12 Conference Meanwhile college football adopted the Bowl Championship Series BCS to determine its champion That began a new era for the Cotton Bowl The BCS chose the Fiesta Rose Sugar and Orange Bowls as its premier games That reduced the importance of the Cotton Bowl From 1999 through 2014 the Cotton Bowl hosted a team from the Big 12 every year Former President Lyndon B Johnson congratulates Texas quarterback James Street left and coach Darrell Royal after the Longhorns defeated Notre Dame in the 1970 Cotton Bowl 8
That was not the only change The Cotton Bowl stadium began to show its age after 73 years of hosting the Classic So the game was moved from its original location Now it is held at the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League NFL And in 2014 the new College Football Playoff replaced the BCS As part of that the Cotton Bowl regained its status as a major bowl The Cotton and Peach Bowls joined the four BCS bowls to form a new Big 6 Two of the six bowls will host a national semifinal playoff game once every three years Sanford’s Folly once again proved its critics wrong THE HOUSE THAT DOAK BUILT The Cotton Bowl Stadium had room for approximately 45,000 fans for the first Classic Within a decade that number rose much higher That was thanks in large part to SMU running back Doak Walker Fans filled the stadium for SMU’s home games to watch the three-time All American and Dallas native The Cotton Bowl added an upper deck in time for Walker’s junior season That increased capacity to 67,000 Walker won the Heisman Trophy that year An additional 8,000 seats were added for his senior season Local writers called the growing stadium The House that Doak Built 9
