AT&T Stadium Airport Guide: DFW vs Love Field Distances and Shuttles
Almost every airport-to-stadium question starts the same way: how far is AT&T Stadium from the airport? The home of the Dallas Cowboys sits in Arlington, roughly halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, and the two commercial airports that serve it behave very differently on game day. This guide answers the distance questions directly, gives median shuttle fares from our confirmed completed trips, and lays out the logistics for the stadium's loaded fourth-quarter schedule — starting with the Cowboys-Eagles Thanksgiving game on Thursday, November 26.
Which Airport Is Closest to AT&T Stadium?
DFW International Airport is the closest major airport to AT&T Stadium. In our confirmed completed trips between DFW and the stadium, the median door-to-door distance is about 14 miles — roughly 25 to 35 minutes outside of peak congestion. Dallas Love Field, the second commercial airport on the Dallas side, runs a median of about 22 miles and adds a downtown Dallas crossing to the ride. Arlington itself sprawls: general airport-to-Arlington trips in our completed-trip data run about 21 door-to-door miles from DFW, so trips that end at a hotel on the far side of the city run longer than trips that end at the stadium.
For most itineraries the answer is DFW: it is closer, it handles the bulk of domestic and international arrivals, and the rental-car and rideshare queues at Love Field thin out far more slowly on Cowboys home dates. Love Field works well for Southwest itineraries — just budget for the extra miles.
Shuttle Fares from DFW and Love Field
In our confirmed completed trips across these corridors:
- DFW Airport to AT&T Stadium: median fare $53.58 across 8 completed trips; median distance about 14 miles.
- AT&T Stadium to DFW Airport: median fare $57.49 across 7 completed trips.
- Dallas Love Field to AT&T Stadium: median fare $118.69 across 12 completed trips; median distance about 22 miles.
- AT&T Stadium to Dallas Love Field: median fare $129.79 across 10 completed trips.
- Arlington generally: median fares of $78.57 outbound and $80.56 returning against DFW, across more than 600 completed trips each way.
Every fare above is a whole-vehicle, door-to-door price your group splits — four riders cut the DFW leg four ways. Rideshare is the alternative, but on Cowboys game nights the postgame surge at an 80,000-plus-seat building is exactly when dynamic pricing peaks and pickup zones shift; a pre-booked shuttle stages on the exit route instead and leaves when your group does.
The Stadium's Fourth-Quarter Slate
The stretch from late November through New Year's is the busiest the building gets all year:
- Thursday, November 26 — Cowboys vs. Eagles. The annual Thanksgiving game, an NFC East showdown kicking off at 4:30 p.m. Eastern (3:30 p.m. in Arlington) on FOX. A 3:30 p.m. local kickoff means peak-area traffic is still dense when fans arrive; build in the extra half hour.
- Friday, December 4 — Big 12 Football Championship. The conference title game returns to Arlington the week after Thanksgiving.
- Sunday, December 27 — Cowboys vs. Jaguars. A Sunday-night kickoff between Christmas and New Year's, when holiday travelers and football fans share the same corridors.
Game-Day Pickup Playbook
- Book the airport leg before you fly. Thanksgiving week and the week between Christmas and New Year's are DFW's winter peaks; pre-booking locks the fare and the pickup window.
- Arrive in the Entertainment District 2.5–3 hours before kickoff. Marquee games fill the lots early, and the tailgate scene is part of the trip.
- Agree on a staged postgame pickup. A hotel or restaurant on the exit route — not the stadium curb — saves more time on game night than any other decision.
More planning help: our DFW airport shuttle page details airport pickups, the DFW to AT&T Stadium shuttle page covers the airport-to-stadium booking leg, the Cowboys-Eagles Thanksgiving shuttle guide covers the November 26 opener in depth, the Big 12 Championship shuttle guide covers the December 4 title game, and the Arlington to Dallas shuttle corridor covers the city-to-city leg.