When the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium opens in June, it may not only be the largest sports stadium in the world, but also the one with the most technological innovations.

Three million square feet is a lot of stadium, and 1.1 billion dollars is a lot of money, but part of what will make this new stadium shine is the technology that has been built into it. Jerry Jones, the owner of the team, is high on technology. Pete Walsh, head of technology for the Cowboys, says “I was given a blank sheet of paper and told to go create the future.”

Walsh took that directive literally and has created a tech marvel in the heart of Texas. When fans attend a game at the new stadium, they will be able to e-mail photos to friends, find lost children, cash in wireless coupons and watch customized content on the thousands of televisions, according to a Dallas News story. That’s a far cry from the limited technology that was available at the Cowboy’s previous, 37-year-old facility.

Walsh says, “Texas Stadium doesn’t have a whole lot of technology in it. Basically, you flip on the lights and roll out the football. In the new stadium, almost everything is tied to technology and to a computer.” Here are some of the innovations in the new stadium:

* The stadium will sport two 60 yard video monitors above the field.
* They will be among the 2800 monitors installed in the stadium, every one of which will have its own IP address.
* Stadium personnel can put any available video stream on any monitor at any time, via computer control.
* When complete, parents and stadium security will be able to track children via RFID.
* That same RFID system could help keep track of team property, and keep it from being removed from the stadium.
* Thirty antennae are spread throughout the stadium to insure good telephone and WiFi inside the facility.

Even if the team does not perform, the stadium will. Although most of us do not often think about it, there is a lot of technology packed into almost everything that is being built these days. There is no reason that stadiums should be any different. This new facility will give other team owners another way in which they need to keep up with the Jones’.