Color me unsurprised. Dan Rafael reports at ESPN.com that the new Dallas Cowboys’ stadium is out of the running for the Pacquiao/Mayweather (or Mayweather/Pacquiao) fight:

For unspecified reasons, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is out of the running to host the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather super fight, Top Rank’s Bob Arum told ESPN.com on Wednesday.

Arum, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who will co-promote the nearly finalized fight, and HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg were supposed to meet with Cowboys officials at the stadium on Wednesday for a tour of the facility and to talk with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about a site fee for the fight.

However, Arum said he received a call from Schaefer on Tuesday night cancelling the trip.

“Richard called me last night and said he won’t go to Texas,” Arum said. “And I told him to call Ross and tell him. And then I called Ross and said, ‘You don’t want me to go if he’s not going. If Jerry Jones offers me money for the fight what is Pacquiao going to do? Go in the ring alone?’ Schaefer just said, ‘I’m not going to Texas. I’m not going to the do the fight in Texas. I’m not going to waste my time.’ That’s the explanation.”

Arum said he asked why and Schaefer’s response was, ” ‘The fight is March 13 and there isn’t enough time to do a fight at an outdoor stadium.’ It’s bizarre, but that’s what he said. I reminded him [that the stadium has a retractable roof]. He said it doesn’t matter. I am not going to theorize. I’m just telling you what happened.”

Arum, who turned 78 on Tuesday, was having a dinner party for his birthday at his Las Vegas home and was planning to leave at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“I was planning to get up early and then the bombshell happened,” Arum said. “Richard called and that’s where we are. He may have a real good reason why he wouldn’t consider Dallas. The reason he gave me, frankly, makes no sense. Maybe he has another reason that he didn’t articulate it to me. But we had airline tickets booked and the three of us planned to rendezvous in Dallas and then go out to the stadium.”

Our take all along is that the only reason that the Arum and Golden Boy were playing footsie with Jerry Jones is to drive up the site fee they could eventually command in Las Vegas. Big fights belong in Las Vegas anyway…still no official venue but booking your reservations for the weekend at the MGM Grand wouldn’t be a bad idea.

No Pacquiao/Mayweather for Dallas @ ESPN