Arlington approved changes to the controversial extension of the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 lease of AT&T Stadium over concerns about how bond money will be used.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The council voted 7-2 to approve the changes, with Council members Nikkie Hunter, representing District 3, and Bowie Hogg, representing District 7, voting against.\u00a0Hunter and Hogg voted against the original lease extension, as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The agreement, while approved by the council, has not been finalized. The city still needs to meet \u201call closing conditions\u201d and get the Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office to sign off on the deal, according to Tarrant County civil court documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A lawsuit filed in June hoped to see the agreement ruled illegal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city attorney\u2019s office\u00a0declined through a spokesperson\u00a0a request for interview about the changes made and whether those changes are related to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
City Manager Trey Yelverton told the council that the changes came after consultation with bond attorneys and the Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office.\u00a0The amendments clarify what the city and Dallas Cowboys are agreeing to with the lease extension.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur dollars go to maintenance and operation dollars, and the team\u2019s dollars go into improvements,\u201d\u00a0 Yelverton told the city council ahead of the vote Tuesday. \u201cOf course, all to keep our economic impact here for the next 30 years, with an extra 15 years on the transaction so that we can not only lower the tax burden but also create impactful benefits for the community in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nobody signed up to address the council during the public hearing ahead of the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city announced in August 2025 it was paying off the original loan it took out for the stadium\u2019s construction a decade early. \u00a0<\/p>\n
But special taxes to fund the stadium, approved by 55%\u00a0of voters more than 20 years ago, are still in effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one reason it raised concerns from Arlington residents when the city approved the football team\u2019s lease extension in April.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/img-6283-1024x768.jpeg\")
Spain fans celebrate their team\u2019s win in the 2026 FIFA World Cup at AT&T Stadium. While the Dallas Cowboys are the mainstay attraction to the venue, it draws other events like concerts and Supercross races, which the city says boosts Arlington\u2019s economy. James Hartley\/KERA<\/p>\n
The city approved the use of $273 million of those previously authorized venue taxes to reimburse the Cowboys for improvements to AT&T Stadium. Just ahead of the city\u2019s elections for mayor and several council members, it became a talking point for Mayor Jim Ross\u2019 opponent, Steve Cavender.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He and swaths of Arlington residents took to social media to decry the decision as a move that bypassed voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear you with your concerns. There\u2019s nothing more I agree with that this is something that the voters need to have a say in this,\u201d Ross said at the time. \u201cI\u2019m just confident that they\u2019ve already had that say.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Council members Nikkie Hunter and Bowie Hogg voted against the extension.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ross and council members Mauricio Galante, Raul Gonzalez, Andrew Piel, Rebecca Boxall, Long Pham and Barbara Odom-Wesley voted in favor. Piel and Odom-Wesley left the council after the May elections because they reached their term limits while Boxall was unseated by Brittney Garcia-Dumas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But some voters disagreed with Ross\u2019 assessment. \u00a0<\/p>\n
A lawsuit filed against the city claims the deal isn\u2019t aligned with the tax items previously approved for the stadium\u2019s construction and sought an injunction to block reimbursement and a subsequent ruling that the deal isn\u2019t legal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was filed by Warren V. Norred, an Arlington-based attorney who opposed previous votes on the stadium, on behalf of Voters\u2019 Voice of Arlington.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The unincorporated non-profit Voters\u2019 Voice of Arlington was created ahead of the filing. The suit names Ross and City Manager Trey Yelverton as defendants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ross, Yelverton and the city responded to the lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, claiming the suit had no footing because the issue is not \u201cripe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That means the city argues the suit has been filed\u00a0too early\u00a0and thus the issues brought to the court fall outside its jurisdiction. The deal, while approved by council, has not been finalized. That would require \u201call closing conditions\u201d to be met and for the Texas Attorney General to approve the deal, according to the city\u2019s response filed in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/05272025-arlington-entertainment-01-kera-2-1024x575.jpg\")
The Arlington Entertainment District including the National Medal of Honor Museum, Texas Live!, Choctaw Stadium and Globe Life Field. Yfat Yossifor\/KERA<\/p>\n
The suit is not mentioned in the city\u2019s staff report detailing the changes; it notes the amendment \u201cclarifies the use of the City\u2019s contribution, specifying that the City\u2019s contribution is for the actual costs to maintain, operate, and manage the Stadium. The Cowboys remain obligated to fund and complete the improvements specified in the Master Agreement by 2043.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
The deal approved by council in April would see the Cowboys\u2019 lease of the city-owned stadium extended to 2055, with a commitment from the city to reimburse up to $273 million in improvements to the stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That money comes from a mix of sales and other taxes created by the city and approved by voters in 2004, the same taxes voters reapproved in 2016 for the construction of Globe Life Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe voters have already been heard on it, and they overwhelmingly said, \u2018Sell the bonds and pay this thing back by 2048,\u2019 \u201d Ross said ahead of the April vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the city says those taxes are approved until that time and can be used for specific ongoing expenses, the suit alleges the city needs to have another vote because the final payment on the original bond ended Arlington\u2019s obligation to pay for maintenance and improvement under the master agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The suit argues that the money from those taxes should be returned to voters by placing them into the maintenance and operating budget of the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city says\u00a0it has the right under state law to use\u00a0the special venue taxes for maintenance and operating costs even after the bond has been paid off, creating \u201cadditional capacity to allow the contribution into the Stadium M&O account.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Court records show the city\u2019s attempt to have the case dismissed in the response filed with the court was unsuccessful and 141st District Court Judge John Chupp\u00a0has scheduled the first day of a non-jury trial for May 31, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/10\/21\/arlington-approves-changes-to-proposed-dallas-cowboys-lease-extension-2\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n
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