The 2026 NFL season is just around the corner, with all the teams preparing for Week 1. The season opens with a Super Bowl LX rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots on Wednesday, September 9. The Dallas Cowboys are set to host the New York Giants three days later, on Sunday, September 13. But just a week before the clash, the Dallas Cowboys have faced an infrastructural challenge.

The Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility and football operations headquarters, The Star in Frisco, and at the heart of the campus is the Ford Center, a state-of-the-art 12,000-seat indoor stadium. On Friday morning, a fire broke out at the facility, as reported by NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

According to reports, the fire broke out around 4:00 AM inside a commercial laundry appliance (the dryer or washing unit where the fire started) located near a loading dock in the facility. On-site security personnel acted immediately and used fire extinguishers to contain the flames before emergency services arrived.

The Frisco Fire Department Deputy Chief Jacob Leeper reported:

“There was a small fire in a commercial laundry appliance at The Star. Security personnel used a fire extinguisher until Frisco FD units arrived. There was no structural damage to the building.”

Shortly after, the Frisco Fire Department, with mutual aid from the Plano Fire Department, arrived on the scene to control and extinguish the fire.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys had their last practice session at the Ford Center on Wednesday night, August 26, 2026. It was an open practice session that lasted from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM as part of the team’s annual “Cowboys Night” event, which served as the official conclusion of their 2026 training camp schedule.

The Cowboys players remained safe from the incident, as they weren’t scheduled to practice on Friday (the day when the fire broke out) and were not at the complex at the time of the incident.

However, the game week preparations begin on Monday, September 7, and by then, all the Cowboys players are expected to return to the Ford Center.

Notably, since the indoor facility opened in 2016, this incident marks the first time a fire broke out in the venue. Quite concerning, but the severity of the fire was extremely minor, with the damage strictly confined to a laundry appliance, while the building itself suffered no structural harm, and there was no widespread smoke or water damage.

So, when the Dallas Cowboys players and coaches return to brainstorm strategies for their Week 1 clash against the New York Giants, they will have a safe Ford Center to run their operations.