Horns247 Board

Hell yeah!

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All signs point to a return visit to Cowboys Stadium for the UIL’s football championship weekend.

UIL athletic director Mark Cousins confirmed Wednesday that the league is in exclusive negotiations with Cowboys Stadium L.P. to hold the state championships in North Texas for the third straight year.

Cousins would not comment whether the stadium would be the eventual venue, but the league and the Cowboys have been in discussions for months.

In early May at the UIL state track meet in Austin, Cousins intimated that the requirements for a possible site – namely a domed stadium with a playing surface that can withstand nine games in three days – eliminated all but two venues: Cowboys Stadium and San Antonio’s Alamodome.

Last July, Cousins hinted that Cowboys Stadium might be the venue for the foreseeable future.

“A lot of times it’s good to try to settle something and get something in place for a while and giving it an opportunity to grow and spread,” he said.

Cowboys Stadium has reserved Dec. 20-22 on its schedule for the championships, according to its event planning staff.

It’s likely that an official announcement will be released with the next few weeks.

Last year was the first time the UIL attempted a single-site championship, with three games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In 2010, the league split games between Cowboys Stadium and Mansfield’s Vernon Newsom Stadium.

In both instances, the games were a tremendous success. In 2011, three Saturday championships drew a combined attendance of 101,283. In 2010, the combined Saturday attendance — with each game featuring a Dallas/Fort Worth-area team — was 101,582.

If three championship games are played on Saturday in 2012, it will be a quick turnaround for the facility. The Cowboys hosting New Orleans with a noon start on Sunday.