Dallas Blog

Patrick Michels

Tomorrow, Jerry Jones will display just how he plans to use his video screen to air the biggest advertisements you can't fast-forward through.

I saw this just-moved press release concerning an 11 a.m. press conference at Cowboys Stadium tomorrow, featuring Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Cisco CEO John Chambers, and wondered what more they could cram into the EnormoDome when it comes to the latest and greatest in technology. Which is why I called Cisco's spokesperson Molly Ford, who says the "new technology will basically help the Cowboys move video around the stadium." In other words, she adds, "How do you get images to the 3,000 screens and to the large video scoreboard" that hangs over most of the field?

She wouldn't be too specific, of course, but offered enough clues for us to piece together this particular puzzle. Ford says Cisco's so-called "fan-facing technologies," as it's referred to in the release, will allow stadium officials to not only broadcast the on-the-field action throughout the joint, but also allow advertisers to pick and choose where their commercials are shown during breaks in the action at the stadium still in need of someone willing to buy the naming rights. "The Cowboys can now work with their sponsors to do targeted promotions and advertising in the stadium," Ford says, right before using the phrase "revenue stream," hint, hint.

She also says tomorrow Jones and Chambers will debut "technology and other amenities for the luxury suites," where they'll presumably see ads for a pricier brand of product than folks in the cheap seats, wherever those are.

Update at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday: Here's this morning's official release detailing all the capabilities of Cisco's so-called Connected Sports technology.