Drilling unlikely under Cowboys' new stadium

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys' new $1.15 billion stadium would probably be off-limits for underground drilling under the team's contract with the city of Arlington.

City Attorney Jay Doegey said there are concerns about the possible risks of drilling under such an expensive and huge structure, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday. The stadium weighs more than 805 million pounds.

"We don't want the ground to give and cause it to crack or sink," Doegey told the newspaper.

Options for drilling are already limited because the 200-acre site is in a developed area, but language in the contract makes it potentially harder to lease the property for drilling.

In recent years, thousands of wells have been drilled in the areas of North Texas. The region sits upon the Barnett Shale, a geologic formation that is perhaps the nation's richest natural gas field.

-- AP