The Cowboys have hosted the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium. Indianapolis isn’t going to like this, but the Cowboys want a chance to hold the Scouting Combine at their training facility in Frisco.
“Yes, I believe we can have the combine here,” Cowboys executive vice president Jerry Jones Jr. said, via Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Was that the reason for this to be built? Not at all. But as you sit there and think about what are the possibilities if you do build it, there’s no question that’s on the radar.”
Indianapolis has served as the host of the combine since 1987. It has an agreement with the NFL through 2020, and has done such a great job, the league has no reason to leave especially now that the event has pushed back a week to better weather.
Los Angeles also has expressed interest in hosting the combine once the new stadium opens in Inglewood, according to a source.
“Indianapolis is hard to beat because you’re not playing a losing team,” a league source said. “They’ve done such a good job for a long time.”
The biggest advantage Indianapolis has is the location of three hospitals near Lucas Oil Stadium. It has an X-ray truck in the stadium.
But the Cowboys held the grand opening of Baylor, Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research this week. The 300,000-square-foot sports medicine facility is located across the street from the team’s 12,500-seat indoor practice facility at The Star, an entertainment district that also includes restaurants, bars and an Omni hotel.
“Everything you’ve ever heard is, ‘Why Indianapolis?’” Jones said. “We all go there, and we know how cold it is. You could pick a nicer place to go as far as that time of year. Here we are in the coldest part of the year, February, doing the Combine and why are we not doing it in LA or Orlando? Well, Indy has the medical facilities around Lucas Oil Stadium. That’s what really impacts it the most.
“With this facility right here, it addresses those issues.”