On this day in 1930, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs beat the Indiana Hoosiers 27-0 in the first football game at the brand-new Cotton Bowl in Dallas's Fair Park. The 46,000-seat stadium was on the site of Fair Park Football Stadium, built in 1921 with a seating capacity of 15,000. A milestone in the history of the stadium occurred on January 1, 1937, when the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs beat Marquette University 16-6 in the first Cotton Bowl Classic. The classic became a New Year's Day tradition matching the Southwest Conference champion against a highly rated opponent. The stadium was renovated extensively in 1948 and 1949, bringing its capacity to 75,504. (The House That Doak Built!) The Cotton Bowl was also the home of the Dallas Texans of the National Football League in 1952, the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) of the American Football League from 1960 to 1962, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL from 1960 to 1970. The stadium was renovated again in 1994 in preparation for soccer's World Cup. The Dallas Burn of Major League Soccer is currently the only professional sports franchise to call the Cotton Bowl home, though the annual clash between the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma is still played there.
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