What to Know
- Super Bowl XLV was played on February 6, 2011. It was viewed by 111 million on TV.
- Cowboys Stadium played host. It was not yet known as AT&T Stadium, naming rights were granted in 2013.
- The Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XLV defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 31-25.
If you lived in North Texas in 2011, you no doubt remember that Cowboys Stadium played host to Super Bowl XLV and the weather couldn't have been more terrible.
It was the first, and some say the last, time the Dallas-Fort Worth area hosted a Super Bowl.
The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers came to town for a week of festivities and brought with them an epic winter weather event -- a cold blast of ice and snow and temperatures that were the lowest in 15 years.
That put the DFW area on ice nationally. One of the country’s most read, and respected sports writers, Peter King tweeted, "I'm telling you: I-30 between Dallas- Fort Worth is a plow-less, snow-windswept moonscape. This is officially a debacle." Jim Rome said "6 inches of snow? Really, Dallas? Good luck getting another Super Bowl."
Being realistic, North Texas wasn’t prepared for the weather, because it’s not normal for the area. The Texas Department of Transportation brought in extra crews to help clear the roads especially leading to Cowboys Stadium and Super Bowl events in the area. Plows were brought in from West Texas and sand and salt supplies were trucked in from Austin, San Antonio and Houston.
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But TxDOT couldn’t help with the ice that coated (and fell from) the roof at Jerry World.
Arlington firefighters tethered to the roof used 2x4s and pick axes to dislodge the remaining ice before it could fall in massive sheets.
Photos: Workers Clear Ice From Cowboys Stadium Roof
But the weather wasn’t the only issue, the Cowboys hoped to set a record for attendance at Super Bowl XLV. Approximately 15,000 temporary seats were added, but hours before kickoff, more than 1,200 seats were blocked off.
About 1,250 furious fans were displaced because their seats were deemed unsafe -- 850 fans were given somewhere else to sit and 400 ended up without a view of the field.
There was a class action lawsuit over the seat debacle and the fans were compensated in 2015.
In the end, Cowboys Stadium failed to break the Super Bowl record.
The 1980 record for Super Bowl attendance was 103,985 set at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Super Bowl XLV's attendance was 103,219, leaving Cowboys Stadium 766 shy of the record.
Even after all that, Christina Aguilera butchered the National Anthem, there were complaints over the sound during the Black Eyed Peas-Usher-Slash halftime show.
[NATL] Black Eyed Peas Halftime Show in Photos
But a reminder, all the problems with Super Bowl XLV can't be laid at Jerry Jones or the Super Bowl hosting committee's feet. They can't control the weather, and the NFL controls everything else.
In the end the Packers defeated the Steelers 31-25, and many said Jerry World would host a Super Bowl within five to six years. For those of you counting, it’s been eight years.
[DFW] Super Bowl XLV in Photos: Green Bay Wins
Also for those of you counting, Texas Rangers pitchers and catchers report in six days. Feb. 12 marks the beginning of spring training, with the team’s first full workout Feb. 18.
