The Dallas Cowboys’ home ground is infamous for the late afternoon glare that disrupts passes and hinders gameplay. But FIFA, which has control over stadiums for the duration of the World Cup, forced the top brass to solve the problem. However, team owner Jerry Jones has come up with a unique solution.

“Not quite curtains being used at AT&T Stadium for today’s World Cup match, but a tint is over the big doors on each side of the stadium,” Haymaker Network and Texas Legends’ Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Nick Harris wrote on X, sharing some photographs. “No glare or sunlight coming through onto the pitch as a result.”

Front Office Sports reported on May 20 that FIFA will use the curtains the AT&T already has installed. The Japan vs Netherlands match was the only game at the stadium scheduled to take place when the sun will arrive at the troubling position. But Harris’ post makes it look like  Jones has found a way around this mandate, using a tint on the window instead of drawing the already-installed curtains. ALLCITY Network’s Clarence Hill Jr. landed a sharp jab.

“So jerry jones can use a tint and not curtains,” he wrote in a reply to the tweet. “It’s just stubbornness at this point.”

Fans and the Cowboys know better than the visiting World Cup teams. If you’re playing an early afternoon game at the AT&T, the sun gangs up with the opposing team to make your life troublesome. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb famously missed a pass from Cooper Rush against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024. Right afterwards, he gestured at his eyes, indicating that the glare blinded him.

The team already has a solution in place. Jerry Jones is simply adamant about not using it. The curtains are otherwise drawn for concerts and other events, but the team owner has never been on board with giving his players that same respite.

“Someone asked me about the sun,” Jones said in 2024. “What about the sun? Where’s the moon? We’re fine. But everybody plays in the sun out here.” 

Perhaps the tinted glass could also be a consolation for his football team, who have long suffered because of the sun.

Cowboys games and getting blinded by the sun go hand in hand

Rodger Sherman was able to establish a long history of the Dallas Cowboys struggling because of Jones’ beloved west-facing window. A screengrab from the 2016 season opener against the New York Giants shows Jason Witten in position to catch a pass. But the WR’s face and torso could not be seen because of the light falling on him. Witten’s field of view was pretty much the same.

In 2022, Cedric Wilson also lined up for a pass from Dak Prescott, but he had to get himself out of the way because of the sun.

“It’s one of those things you can’t do anything about,” he said after the game. “I turned around and couldn’t see Dak or the ball.”

And in 2024, Lamb summed up all of their complaints. When asked about wanting to have the curtains, he said, “Yes, 1,000%.”

While planning for the stadium, Jerry Jones and Co. chose the east-west alignment instead of the traditional north-south alignment. It is one of only two NFL stadiums oriented this way, per NBC. And the AT&T is the only stadium to have a “transparent southwest endzone.” If the Cowboys planned on being among the outliers, there have to be mechanisms that help them succeed in that mission.

Only time will tell if the new ‘installation’ will be of any help to the Cowboys.