⚽ Shade over Toyota Stadium

Happy Monday! Embrace the task instead of fighting it.

☀️ Today's weather: High near 80, with a chance of rain.

🎵 Sounds like: "World in Motion"

🏈 Situational awareness: The Dallas Cowboys almost closed a large deficit against the Baltimore Ravens yesterday, but lost 28-25.

• The Cowboys' Brandon Aubrey kicked a 65-yard field goal, the second-longest kick in NFL history.

Today's newsletter is 806 upgraded words — a 3-minute read.

Frisco's Toyota Stadium is about to get real shady — the Frisco City Council has approved a $182 million plan to update the home of FC Dallas and add shade over its seating areas.

Why it matters: North Texas has become a popular outpost for well-established and up-and-coming franchises. The sports venues expand the region's capacity to host moneymaking large-scale events.

• Toyota Stadium has hosted concerts, high school football games, college bowl games and Concacaf Nations League matches.

The big picture: Dallas is a main host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

• Toyota Stadium is a training site for the tournament, though it's unclear how much of the renovations will be done by then.

Context: Toyota Stadium opened in 2005 as a 145-acre facility built around soccer. It has 17 tournament-sized natural grass and turf training fields and the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

• At the time, the stadium seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Now, Frisco has many upscale shops, restaurants and new housing developments — indicative of the growth that North Texas has experienced in recent years.

Zoom in: The upgrades include more seating and bathrooms, a roof structure offering shade, better concessions, two new suite levels and improved club spaces.

• Plans also include a 6,000-square-foot video board, the largest such board for a soccer-specific stadium in Major League Soccer, per a news release.

The intrigue: The project is being paid for through a public-private partnership that includes the Hunt family that owns the Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas.

What's next: Construction will start early next year and end in 2028.

• The work will happen in phases, starting with the east side, so the stadium can stay operational for MLS matches and the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

We're officially in fall, even though the weather doesn't feel like it just yet.

Driving the news: The fall equinox was yesterday, marking the first day of the fall season.

The big picture: Fall is getting warmer in Dallas-Fort Worth and across the continental U.S., according to a new Climate Central report. Dallas County's fall temperatures rose 3.1° on average between 1970 and 2023, per the report.

• Warmer autumns mean more demand for cooling, higher energy use, longer wildfire seasons and big changes for farmers and gardeners.

The latest: Some relief is on the way in North Texas, after the unbearably hot weekend.

• The National Weather Service forecasts a cold front will drop temperatures closer to normal this week, with highs in the 80s.

Yes, but: For the last two years, North Texas didn't record the last 90-degree day until Oct. 21. Fall weather might not be as close as we hope.

Golfer Jordan Spieth could live anywhere in the world, but Dallas has his heart.

The big picture: The 2015 Masters winner went to Jesuit College Preparatory, learned how to golf at Brookhaven Country Club and says Tex-Mex is his favorite cuisine.

• Spieth tells Axios that he and his wife, Annie Verret, are basically hibernating these days with their 1-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.

Yes, but: Parents deserve a break, so we asked Spieth about his favorite spots around town. Here's what he said:

🌮 Favorite Tex-Mex: Steak and chicken fajitas with some Don Patron margaritas from Muchacho in Dallas

🍖 Favorite barbecue spot: Hard Eight BBQ in Coppell. His wife grew up in the area.

🍽 Other favorite restaurants: Neighborhood Services, Shinsei, The Mexican and Carbone

🍪 Favorite dessert: Cookies from Eatzi's

🏘 Favorite Dallas neighborhood: Bluffview

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Favorite place to hang out with the kids: The backyard

⛳️ Favorite golf course: "Um, I can't play favorites."

Meow Wolf's Cosmic Howl takes our immersive experience and adds a splash of strange enchantment to the cauldron.

What to expect: Events, workshops, spooky treats and other special surprises on select dates in the spirit of October's spooky season.

💰 This year's North Texas Giving Day raised a record $68 million for local nonprofits. (DMN)

🍳 SMU took home the Iron Skillet after beating TCU 66-42 on Saturday. TCU coach Sonny Dykes was ejected in the third quarter after receiving multiple penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct. (ESPN)

🦟 Denton County reported seven new human West Nile virus cases, more than usual around this time of year. (NBC5)

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Why it's important: The generosity of our members supports our newsroom as we work on the daily newsletter.

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The arrival of more Indian and Pakistani families in North Texas has fueled the expansion of a Plano dessert chain that offers American and South Asian treats.

The intrigue: We regularly drove 45 minutes to the first Ked's location in Plano during the COVID pandemic to get falooda — a cold dessert with milk, ice cream, jello, nuts, rice noodles and rose syrup.

• Ked's has since expanded to Frisco, Murphy and the Castle Hills area, with more locations planned.
• They're open late on weekdays and weekends.

What to order: The saffron falooda, which includes pistachio saffron ice cream.

• There are also Western options, like crepes, ice cream cake and waffles.

Where: Ked's Ice Cream, Waffles and Crepes, locations across North Texas.

Cost: $7.99 for a medium falooda.

Six-word review: Way better than ice cream floats.

Experience Halloween traditions and events Meow Wolf style!

What you need to know: There's something for the entire family to enjoy during Cosmic Howl at The Real Unreal this October — from painting pumpkins to enjoying special Adulti-Verse nights with live music.

Come have a howling good time.

This newsletter was edited by Bob Gee.

Our picks:

💖 Tasha is getting to know the cast of the next "Love Is Blind" season.

👀 Naheed is reading about golfer Bryson DeChambeau's obsession with Grapevine.

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