In a moment captured on video, a part of the roof at AT&T Stadium came away on Monday and almost collided with onlookers.
The incident happened less that 72 hours after the mega-arena in Arlington, Texas, hosted the Netflix boxing showdown between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
During preparations for an NFL Monday night game between the Dallas Cowboys – who play their home games at the 80,000-capacity dome – and the Houston Texans, the stadium's roof was opened for the first time since 2022.
Ground staff had to abandon the plan to fully open the roof, however, when a large panel of sheet metal broke loose and spiralled to the floor.
It landed by the side of the pitch, just a few feet from where dozens of people were working.
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"Bits of debris started falling from the sky," said reporter Lisa Salters on ESPN's Monday Night Football. "They were opening the roof here and you could see big chunks of what looked like dust, paper, plastic and then all of a sudden a big piece of metal floated down and fell onto the field."
Staff at the arena then closed the roof and began work to reattach another panel of sheet metal that had begun to break away.
"We can confirm a piece of metal came loose and fell to the field (with some additional small debris) while the roof was in the process of opening," the Cowboys said in a statement. "There were no injuries. It is being reviewed further, and a decision regarding the ability to re-open the roof safely will be made when possible."
The Cowboys went on to lose the game 34-10, falling to 3-7 for the season as they occupy third position on the NFC East.
Meanwhile, Jake Paul, who scored a unanimous decision victory over Tyson at AT&T Stadium on Friday night, has accepted a call-out from world heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois.
"Man been boxing for 12 years, has over 100 fights between amateur and pro and fought on my undercard…hahaha," Paul wrote on X.
"But f**k it…I’m going to have Nakisa talk to Frankie Warren and get you in line for the throne. Unlike Artur, at least you have a few thousand fans."
Topics: Boxing, NFL, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson
Ryan Baldi