By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

Almost from the moment Bob McNair purchased the right to field an NFL franchise in Houston, he wanted his team's first game to be against the Dallas Cowboys. It was the perfect way, McNair sensed, to get his new team off to a flying start in the eyes of fans everywhere.

What McNair wanted, in return for his $700 million franchise fee and his hometown's $449 million stadium, was something bigger than an average regular-season opener.

That he has. In fact, what he has is something more akin to a playoff game -- the same desperate combination of ticket scalping, merchandising frenzy and informational mania that usually descends on a team when it's driving toward the Super Bowl, not taking its first baby steps as a football franchise.

Take tickets, for example. Want some? How about a shirt, a program, a print or a trinket to commemorate the occasion?

And will that be cash, credit card or second mortgage?

It's only a slight exaggeration. Cowboys-Texans on Sunday night at Reliant Stadium is more than just a hot ticket. It's an event.

Jessica Simpson will sing the national anthem. Clay Walker will perform a song written for the team at halftime. ESPN, sports cornerstone of the Disney empire, is sending everyone but Huey, Dewey and Louie to document the game on television and radio. Forbes magazine highlights the game not in terms of the final score, but how the associated marketing buzz will affect the bottom line of what will soon be two of the three most valuable franchises in pro football.

Vendors across the country are rushing to wrap up deliveries for least two dozen varieties of clothing and memorabilia branded particularly for this game -- and when the shirts, balls, pennants, Beanie babies and bobblehead dolls are sold -- say, by midway through the second quarter -- there won't be any more.

There will, of course, be a game played. But at times this week, it seems as if everything swirling around the action on the field threatens to dwarf David Carr, Emmitt Smith, Jamie Sharper and their fellow performers.

Tickets, of course, are the essential starting point. The game is sold out, but local brokers estimate that 500 to 1,000 tickets are floating about in assorted resale markets. Prices from local ticket brokers begin at about $175 for end zone seats in the upper deck and climb to $300 for the lower seating bowl and $350 for the club level.

For yard-line seats, however, prices jump to $700 to $900. And you'd better hurry. Even as we speak, hoards of crazed, high-rolling Cowboys fans are gathering for the drive south, seeking what they might devour.

"They'll start coming into town Thursday and Friday, and they'll probably swoop up everything that's left," said broker Kent Maree of Front Row Tickets. "That will probably add another hundred dollars to the price."

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were about 400 eBay entries for Texans tickets to the Cowboys game and other regular-season contests. At the top of the heap, in terms of price, was one fan offering 10 club level seats for a mere $7,500. He had no bidders as of sundown Wednesday, however.

Parking passes, by the way, are extra. Expect to pay $30 to $60 for the right to park outside Reliant Stadium, which brings the initial buy-in fee to $800 or so, minimum, for a group of four.

But once McNair has enticed you inside through his efforts to build what is, thus far, a model franchise, he hands you off to Carl Bassewitz, the team's merchandising consultant, and Bob Brubaker, who directs retail operations for Aramark.

The Texans want your love. Bassewitz and Brubaker will settle for your money.

They intend, of course, to offer value for your dollar. There will be more than two dozen Cowboys-Texans themed items for sale in the stadiums' Go Texan stores, starting with the main store adjacent to Budweiser Plaza and continuing through a dozen other stores and kiosks throughout the stadium.

Brubaker has been through this before, as Aramark's man at what was then called Enron Field when the Astros moved downtown three years ago.

But when comparing excitement -- and sales figures -- for the Astros at their new ballpark and the Texans at theirs, "There's no comparison," he said.

"It's been beyond expectations," Bassewitz said.

Brubaker has ordered 5,000 Cowboys-Texans T-shirts branded with the Reliant Stadium name, which means they won't be available for sale elsewhere. That's one for every dozen fans, which, given past buying trends at preseason games, doesn't sound like very good odds for the acquisitive fan.

Stores will stock about 3,000 bobblehead dolls with an identity crisis: Half of their bobblehead being bears a Cowboys logo, half bears a Texans logo. Similar schizoid Beanie babies also will be on sale, as will ceramic ticket holders for the laminated opening day tickets distributed to season ticket holders and those who hold suite or club seats.

And if you're not lucky enough to catch a game ball if one sails into the stands, you can buy one: Wilson Sporting Goods will ship in about 200 authentic game balls, each branded with the Texans' inaugural season logo, the date of the game and the opponents, for $125 each.

To purchase one of every Cowboys-Texans item, including programs (50,000 will be printed, and vendors also will sell plastic holders to keep them in mint condition) would cost about $300. Two sets of each, and the group of four is up to $1,400 for its night at the game.

As for the high end, Jerald Gibbs' Art of the Game store, located on the west side at club level, includes items for fans of both teams: an autographed Emmitt Smith ball for $629, an autographed Tom Landry mini-helmet for $700, an autographed photo of Smith, Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman for $1,299, plaques bearing signed photos by the Texans' Steve McKinney and Jabar Gaffney for $139 each.

Down the line, stadium stores and Academy sports and outdoors stores will offer a 20-card Upper Deck trading card series of Texans players for $30. Art of the Game marketers also will cut up 10 game balls and affix portions to plaques bearing a team photo that will sell for about $80 and will be available, oddly enough, just in time for Christmas.

At the very high end, artist Stanley Silver has painted original portraits of David Carr and Reliant Stadium, with prints going for $895 and up. The original Carr portrait is available for $15,000, and an abstract rendering of the team logo by Stephen Hilliard is available for $12,500.

As for the rest of the Texans-themed items, KTRK (Channel 13) will host the local equivalent of a shopping network extravaganza featuring team-themed items at 11 a.m. Sunday. Interviews with general manager Charley Casserly and coach Dom Capers will be interspersed with chances to buy, buy, buy.

There will, however, be one freebie for each fan with a ticket Sunday night. Fans will be given red towels emblazoned with the Texans logo and encouraged to wave them -- and to cheer -- should the Cowboys penetrate the Texans' red zone inside the 20-yard line.

While ESPN will show the game nationwide, Channel 13 has the local rights. The station reportedly has promised advertisers a Nielsen rating of 39.8 with a 58 share, which would be the equivalent of a Super Bowl audience. Some sources have 30-second ad spots selling for $18,000 to $20,000.