By Ivan Orozco
ARLINGTON, Texas - Raul Sanchez put down the chair and picked up a cleaning brush.
He took a moment from stacking stadium seats against a cement tunnel wall to clean off some dirt that covered the imprint of a blue star on the backrest of a chair.
"It's got to look good," Sanchez said. "Everything must be right."
There was no way Sanchez, of Grapevine, Texas, would allow dirt on the star logo get past him. Not when he was repairing one of thousands of seats to what is being considered one of the world's largest entertainment venues.
"We have to keep these clean even though they're replacement chairs," Sanchez said.
Sanchez is one of hundreds of workers putting the final touches on the New Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The chairs Sanchez cleaned were part of an extra 20,000 seats that can be used in addition to the 80,000 already installed in the mammoth stadium estimated to have cost $1.15 billion to build.
Most of the seats in the stands of the new stadium that opened in May will be inaugurated not during a Cowboys National Football League contest but by the Gold Cup.
Sunday's quarterfinal matches will be the first sporting event held at the state-of-the-art stadium.
Guadeloupe versus Costa Rica will inaugurate the new artificial soccer field followed by a Mexico-Haiti match that is expected to draw a near sellout crowd.
The stadium holds 70,000 for soccer but has a capacity of 100,000 including additionally installed seats and standing room only areas.
Most like to call it the house that Jerry Jones built, after the infamous owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Jones' sons like to call it Jerry's dream come true.
Plans didn't only include football. Jerry Jones son, Stephen, new the stadium could be Texas' entertainment capital.
"When we first started thinking about this building, we wanted it to be more than just a home for the Dallas Cowboys," said Stephen Jones, the Cowboys CEO. "We wanted it to be for other sports and big crowds and for big sporting events and obviously soccer were right there on top of the list in wanting to accommodate not only great soccer games but great soccer crowds."
This weekend's soccer crowds will get to see some of the items that make the stadium a construction marvel.
The stadium features the distinctive hole-in-the-roof design that identified Texas stadium in Irving, Texas, the former home of the Cowboys.
The sliding roof will probably remain closed for Sunday's games and when needed to keep the elements out.
That is a must considering that the stadium features a 180-foot (55 meters) long, 50-foot (15-meter) high high-definition screen hanging 90 feet (27 meters) over the field.
Its futuristic design is anchored by two steel arches that rainbow over the field and support the roof.
Jerry Jones has jokingly said the open roof was made "so God can watch his team play."
With a glowing glass façade, humongous sliding glass doors that can open on both ends, the Cowboys have built the kind of showplace that can be expected from an organization that bills itself as "America's team."
The stadium opened in May and it has been a popular attraction.
For $15 a person, fans can take a tour. It gives them access to stadium luxury suites, team locker rooms and the gigantic press box amid other areas that fans normally don't get to see.
Tours begin every half-hour each weekday throughout the day.
The stadium is not 100 percent complete. Those taking a tour have to walk through construction zones within the tunnels.
Smoke and dust hangs in the air in some areas where welders and carpenters continue to work.
Forklifts, pallets, boxes filled with equipment and concession stand items adorn the hallways. Some brick walls are yet to be painted.
From the outside, the stadium appears complete. It stands out from other buildings nearby, including Major League Baseball's Rangers Ballpark.
CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer couldn't keep from sharing his thoughts on the venue.
"I got to tell you, it's overwhelming when you walk into this building. This is absolutely phenomenal," Blazer said during a news conference earlier this week. "I'm actually waiting for us to take off. I saw that in a movie when a building started to elevate. It's a very futuristic structure."
The stadium covers an estimated 2.3 million square feet (213,700 square meters). It sits on what used to be a run-down neighborhood and perhaps the most dangerous part of town. Land owners quickly learned they would need to sell their property.
The Dallas Morning News reported it took the demolition of about 150 residences and businesses to make way for the stadium. There are also reports the team is still facing several law suits over land acquisition.
Jones considered other surrounding cities as possible stadium sites but Arlington was the leading candidate. Grapevine and Irving also were considered.
After some deliberation with Irving officials, and extending its Texas stadium lease, the Cowboys decided that Arlington would be the site.
It was an important step for the organizations, which debated extensive renovations to Texas stadium or construction of a new venue in 1994.
Excavation on the site began in 2006 with the Cowboys opening the stadium in May in a ceremony that included current and former players, local officials and the Jones family among others.
"Once we started coming in here and seeing renderings, I remember Jerry would always pinch me and say 'I hope it looks as good as these renderings,'" Stephen Jones said. "And as it started to finish up over this last year, he would say 'Man, it doesn't only look good, it looks better than the pictures.'"
Stephen Jones said he is told that people are impressed when they see the stadium on TV and in newspapers but once they see it, feel it and smell it, he gets a different reaction.
"They say it's much better than they ever expected," he said.
Gold Cup teams also were impressed.
Mexico players praised Jerry Jones for the building when they met with the Cowboys owner after a training session earlier this week.
"It's beautiful," Mexican defender Jonny Magallon said. "It's a luxury stadium. We're privileged to play here."
The teams will be playing on an artificial surface specially designed for soccer. The stadium will have a different type of synthetic surface for Cowboys games.
Teams trained on the field throughout the week. And not all players like the surface.
"The stadium is nice but the field, I don't like it," Guadeloupe captain Stephane Auvray said. "It doesn't convince me."
The stadium also has a different platform for concerts and other major events.
The stadium was inaugurated with a country music concert in early June featuring George Strait and Reba McEntire. The Jonas brothers also performed last month.
Super Bowl XLV will be played at the stadium. Important college football games each year, the NBA All-star Game in 2010 and the 2014 U.S. college basketball Final Four.
The Jones' hope to bring more soccer events in the future.
"We cross our fingers and believe and hope that someday we'll have a World Cup. That's our goal," Stephen Jones said.
"Hopefully this will be a great place where people are going to want and come play soccer."
Sunday's games could give a preview.
And for the meantime, construction workers will continue to prep the stadium for its main attraction: the Dallas Cowboys.
That's why Sanchez, the worker stacking stadium chairs, will continue to use his cleaning brush to keep the chairs clean, especially that blue star.
