The Cotton Bowl stadium opened in 1932 as a 46,000-seat venue known as Fair Park Stadium.

In 1937, the first Cotton Bowl game took place, and the stadium's identity as one of the premier sporting venues in America's cotton belt was secured.

Since then, the stadium has at some point served as the home for numerous athletic teams, including the:

• Dallas Texans of the National Football League (1952)
• Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (1960-1970)
• Dallas Texans of the American Football League (1960-1962)
• SMU Mustangs of the NCAA (1932-1978 and 1995-2000)
• Dallas Independent School District Football Playoffs (1974-Present)
• Dallas Tornado of the North American Soccer League (1967-1968)
• Dallas Burn/FC Dallas of Major League Soccer (1996-2002 and 2004-2005)

Since 1932, the Cotton Bowl has hosted the AT&T Red River Rivalry between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma football teams, as well as other gridiron contests at the high school and collegiate level.

And it hosted several of the preliminary matches of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The stadium ceased to be the host of the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic in 2010.

However, the stadium has served as much more than the site of athletic contests. In 1956, a 21-year-old Elvis Presley attracted 27,000 fans to the stadium, at that time the largest crowd to attend an outdoor concert in Texas.

In the late 1970s, the band Aerosmith recorded their first live concert in the Cotton Bowl.

Meanwhile, during the 1980s, the Texxas Jam concert series in the Cotton Bowl featured such notable acts as Bruce Springsteen, Heart, Journey, Van Halen, Santana and the Eagles, among others.

• Take this tour of our Stadium for the 21st Century.