ARLINGTON — The new Dallas Cowboys stadium has no seats yet, but some suites already have sliding windows installed. One concession stand has a walk-in cooler, but completion of the retractable roof is still months away.

As the final year of construction starts, the stadium is on schedule for its projected June 2009 completion. But the pace of work has varied greatly throughout the building as more than 1,300 workers hammer, saw and weld throughout the $1.1 billion stadium.

“The good thing is there’s always work that needs to be done,” Cowboys construction manager Jack Hill said. “But that’s also the bad part.”

While the 400-foot tall cranes on the field tend to major structural jobs, workers in the suites are installing drywall and will soon start working on air conditioning.

By next summer, workers must complete the retractable roof and end zone doors, install seats, hang the scoreboard, set up the football field and pave most of the parking lots.

“They’ll [public] notice quite a bit going on the outside, but recognize that most of the manpower is focused on the inside of the stadium,” Mr. Hill said.

Concrete work on the stadium should be finished this month, and by the fall, most of the heavy-duty construction work will be completed. Then the Cowboys will be focused on details, such as the carpeting for the private clubs and installing plumbing fixtures. That also means there will be few new changes to the design.

Mark Williams, associate principle at Dallas-based HKS Architects, which designed the stadium, said it looks very close to what was originally introduced in a glitzy unveiling at the Arlington Convention Center in December 2006. He said there are only a few changes the public would notice.

One of the most visible alterations is the exterior video screen planned for each side of the stadium. Those will probably be moved to the end zone plazas, where there’s expected to be corporate tents and special events.

“There will be bands. There will be a lot of people congregating in corporate tents,” Mr. Williams said. “It will be a lot like the Corral is currently at Texas Stadium.”

With that atmosphere, he said, it makes more sense to have the video screens there.

The numbers of suites also increased from 200 to 300, and the Cowboys decided to add two more private clubs to the six already planned for high rollers in the suites and club seats.

The best-known change however was one on paper and not in concrete. Originally budgeted at $650 million, the stadium is now expected to cost $1.1 billion. The city’s cost was capped at $325 million so the Cowboys will pay for the overruns.

But the team will get plenty of help from sponsors and fans.

One-time season ticket seat options cost as much as $150,000, and a 12-year sponsorship deal with Miller Brewing Co. could be worth $8 million annually, according to the Sports Business Journal. Many millions more are expected to come with a naming rights deal that has yet to be announced.

Mr. Hill said most of the changes were small and spread throughout the stadium. But added up, they helped push the budget over the billion-dollar mark.

The building is slightly larger than original planned, and the Cowboys also added more restrooms, concession stands and kitchens.

The interior will also be plusher, and that extends beyond the suites and clubs. The concourse was originally designed as painted concrete blocks, typical of most stadiums. Instead, the Cowboys decided to use burnished block, which is concrete mixed with gravel, crushed stone or other aggregate material to give it a fancier finish.

“It’s really shared throughout the building,” Mr. Hill said, describing the cost increases.

As the Cowboys count down to their opening kickoff, the Texas Department of Transportation is also closely watching the calendar. The expansion of Interstate 30 through Arlington and work on three bridges across the highway continues. But it won’t be completed by the start of the 2009 football season.

Val Lopez, a spokesman for the state agency, said the eastbound lanes of I-30 probably will be finished by the first game. But the westbound lanes won’t.

Workers are now digging a trench to lower the highway by 20 feet as it passes through Arlington’s entertainment district.

The new bridge at Center Street is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, but the new Baird Farm bridge will still be under construction. Mr. Lopez said the Baird Farm exit from westbound I-30 should be completed by then, but the eastbound exit will take longer.

The replacement bridge at Collins Street and I-30 is expected to be finished by late 2009 or early 2010.

One mystery still to be solved at the new stadium is the precise number of seats. Mr. Williams said he has a good idea about the seating — expected to be about 80,000.

“We can get very, very close, but you don’t really know for sure until it’s installed,” Mr. Williams said.

He said that what is constructed isn’t always as precise as what is drawn by the architects. Ms. Williams said something that’s proposed to be 13 feet might actually turn out be 13 feet, ¼ inch.

With a venue the size of the stadium, that could add up to enough space to gain or lose a few seats.

Mr. Williams said he’ll miss working on the stadium as his firm responsibilities there wind down in the upcoming year. It’s a project, he said, that overshadows most of his other work.

“All of our clients, whether they are in the sports or entertainment industry or not, are very curious about the Dallas Cowboys and their new building,” Mr. Williams said. “No matter where I go, people ask about the Cowboys.”

June – Concrete pouring completed in stadium

July – Installation of fixed roof completed; install first motor for retractable roof

August – Install retractable roof panels and close east retractable roof panels

September – Close west retractable roof panels; “topping out” or completion of the last major piece of the roof structure; start construction of retractable end zone doors

October –Raise scoreboard structure and start work on constructing scoreboard

November – Roof completed