Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane forces cancellation of Cowboys-Texans preseason game in Arlington

Houston, Texans vs Dallas Cowboys, August 2017

The Dallas Cowboys game against the Houston Texans, scheduled for Thursday, has been relocated to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Courtesy of ABC13.com

UPDATE: As of August 30, the preseason game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans has been canceled so the Texans' players and staff can return to their families in Houston.

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The Dallas Cowboys game against the Houston Texans, scheduled for 7 pm Thursday, has been moved from NRG Stadium to AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The Texans are practicing in Frisco this week after being unable to return to Houston after Saturday night's preseason game in New Orleans.

Before the NFL's confirmation that Thursday's game will indeed go on, ESPN.com reported that J.J. Watt would like for the contest to involve fundraising to help Houston residents affected by the flooding from Harvey.

"And if there is something played this week, I think we should definitely involve some sort of fundraiser, some sort of way to benefit the people back home ... this is a much bigger issue than just a football game," Watt said.

Sunday, the Texans' defensive end launched his own fundraising campaign via YouCaring.com to raise money for hurricane relief efforts with a goal of $500,000. As of Tuesday morning, Watt has raised $1 million and counting, with a new goal of $1.5 million. To donate, click here. As well, the Houston Texans and the NFL have each pledged $1 million to the United Way of Greater Houston Flood Relief Fund.

In the video below, posted to Watt's Twitter account, the star player notes, "I'm working very hard yesterday, today, and all week to make sure this money goes directly to the people, not to administrative fees or anything like that."

$1 MILLION!

New Goal: $1.5 Millionhttps ://t.co/SR6DmnNbyM pic.twitter.com/YUzbCLWgBa

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) August 29, 2017

fundraisers sports

Baseball Central

Arlington really is a baseball town — and one of the best in the U.S.

Texas Rangers/Facebook

Cole Hamels has helped the Texas Rangers to recent success, one of the big factors in Arlington being named the sixth best baseball city in the United States.

Josh Hamilton famously said in 2013 that Arlington is "not a true baseball town," but according a new study by WalletHub, it is actually one of the best baseball cities in the country, coming in at No. 6 out of over 360 cities.

The only cities with a higher ranking on WalletHub's list are ones with much longer baseball resumés, including New York City, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Boston. The home cities of this year's World Series participants, Chicago and Cleveland, came in at Nos. 10 and 14, respectively.

How did Arlington, which is home to the Texas Rangers, pull off such a feat? It mostly comes down to the Rangers' recent success and the fans willingness to support the team. Since the team has won the AL West four out of seven times since 2010, and made the World Series in 2010 and 2011, their record stands up well to other MLB teams.

But their success is just one piece of the pie. They also rank No. 5 for cheapest average MLB ticket prices and No. 4 for most accessible MLB stadiums, two factors that make it a lot easier for their fans to support them, leading to a ranking of No. 3 for most engaged MLB fans.

However, neither Fort Worth nor Dallas ranked high on the list, ranking Nos. 254 and No. 300. The study also took into account engagement with local minor league or college baseball teams, but neither city has made a habit of highly supporting their local teams.

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