August 15, 1994: The NFL's Biggest Crowd

Herschel Walker

August 15, 1994: The Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 6-0 in a preseason exhibition game. A pair of field goals by Oiler kicker Al Del Greco served as all the scoring.

The game isn't played in Houston, or in Dallas, or anywhere else in Texas. Instead, it is played at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, and it has the highest attendance of any NFL game ever: 112,376.

The biggest crowd for a regular-season game was also played by the Cowboys, on September 20, 2009, with 105,121 coming into AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, to see the Cowboys lose to the New York Giants, 33-31. The biggest postseason crowd was 103,985, to see the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV, at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.

The Houston Oilers and the Dallas Texans were charter members of the AFL in 1960, and the Texans beat the Oilers in the 1962 AFL Championship Game. But that was their last game, as, deciding he couldn't compete with the NFL and the Cowboys for attention, team and league founder Lamar Hunt reduced the rivalry by moving the Texans, becoming the Kansas City Chiefs.

From 1967, the beginning of AFL-NFL preseason crossover games, until 1996, their last season, the Oilers played the Cowboys in a preseason game every year, for a trophy called the Governor's Cup. The Cowboys won the 1st game, 30-17 at Rice Stadium in Houston. After the full merger in 1970, they also played each other in regular-season games. The Cowboys won in 1970, 1974, 1982, 1985 and 1994. The Oilers won in 1979, 1988 and 1991.

In 1992, this game was played outside of the Houston and Dallas metropolitan areas for the 1st time: The Oilers won, 34-23, at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. In 1993, it was played at the new Alamodome in San Antonio, and the Oilers won, 23-20. It was played at the Alamodome again in 1995, and the Cowboys won, 10-0. The last such game was played in 1996, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, and the Cowboys won, 24-19.

The Oilers moved after the 1996 season, becoming the Tennessee Titans. The expansion Houston Texans began play in 2002, and the Governor's Cup preseason game was renewed. The game was not played in 2011 or 2012, but was resumed in 2013, and has been played every year since, except in 2017, when it was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey; and and in 2020, when it was canceled due to COVID restrictions. In regular-season play, the Texans have won in 2002 and 2018; while the Cowboys have won in 2006, 2010 and 2014. (UPDATE: The Cowboys won in 2022, and the Texans won in 2024. The Cowboys lead the Texans, 4-3; and, overall, Dallas leads Houston, 14-9.)

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August 15, 1994 was a Monday. This was the only score of any significance on the day. The NFL was still in its preseason, the NBA and the NHL were out of season, and baseball's Strike of '94 had started 3 days earlier.