IRVING, Texas - The Dallas Cowboys sure would like to close Texas Stadium the way they opened it in 1971.

Not just by winning the last game.

By winning the Super Bowl, too.

The Cowboys began playing under the hole in the roof in October 1971 and won their first championship at the end of that season. Four more Super Bowl titles and 37 seasons later, Dallas will play its 313th and final game there Saturday night, taking on the only team that's never visited, the Baltimore Ravens.

“I know the fans will be excited, I know the players are excited,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “We'd like to send it out on the right note.”

The Cowboys (9-5) also need a win to get closer to the playoffs. There are even three scenarios in which Dallas could lock up a wild card this weekend, but all require a victory over the Ravens, who are among three 9-5 teams fighting for the AFC's lone remaining wild card.

While players and coaches will be focused on what's at stake, the farewell act of this pro sports landmark will be the theme of the evening for everyone else.

In fact, the game is merely the opening act for Saturday night's farewell show. Soon after players head to the locker rooms, a postgame ceremony will commence featuring some of the guys who turned the Cowboys into “America's Team” and evoked the notion the roof was left open so God could watch his team play.

Although the exact guest list is being kept secret, expect Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin to be among the headliners.

During the postgame ceremony, roughly 100 former Cowboys players and coaches who spent at least five years at Texas Stadium will make one last stroll across the midfield star. Current players are expected to take part, too. It's only logical that the team's world-famous cheerleaders also will be involved.

It's worth noting that George Teague was with the Cowboys for exactly five seasons, so he and Terrell Owens could once again meet at the star - like they did in 2000, when T.O., then playing for San Francisco, celebrated two touchdowns on the logo and Teague made him pay for the second one.

During breaks in the Ravens game, the Cowboys will reveal the five most memorable moments at Texas Stadium based on an online vote by fans. Clint Longley's Thanksgiving 1974 performance against the Washington Redskins has to be among them; will Teague “defending the star” make it, too?

The Cowboys are 213-99 at home, counting the playoffs, since moving from the Cotton Bowl into this state-of-the-art building in the suburb of Irving in October 1971. Most of the $35 million cost was paid for through seat option bonds, a first of its kind concept that's evolved into seat licenses. The building also featured 176 luxury suites, more - and fancier - than any stadium up to that point.

Next season, Dallas is moving into another sports Taj Mahal, a $1.1 billion, 100,000-seat stadium. Just this week, builders installed the support for the video boards; billed as the biggest high-def screens ever made, they're high above each sideline and stretch between the 20-yard-lines.