The Dallas City Council is expected to approve a 15-year deal this week that includes $19 million in city incentives to bring the WNBA's Dallas Wings to the Dallas Memorial Auditorium and Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center complex. is. The prospect of moving from College Park Center on the University of Texas at Arlington campus, where the team has played since arriving in North Texas for the 2016 season, would be good news for the Wings, Dallas and the WNBA. The Wings said in a statement confirming discussions with Dallas officials that the proposal “provides our outstanding athletes and passionate fans with the world-class stage they deserve.”
The auditorium is scheduled to be renovated by 2026 as part of a major redevelopment project to provide better amenities and increase tourism revenue. At a time when the WNBA and women's sports are receiving unprecedented fan attention, think of this relocation and renovation as low-risk economic development and entertainment for the city.
The final game of the NCAA Women's Championship between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, led by superstar Caitlin Clark, averaged 18.7 million viewers, making the women's final game more TV watched than the men's game. It was the first time that people had gathered together. Clark was selected at the top of the WNBA Draft and is the hottest ticket in town for next month's first game against the Indiana Fever in Dallas.
Granted, a move to Dallas won't attract NBA, MLB, NHL or NFL franchises. But we believe that women's basketball is growing. And as part of the convention center's new identity, the Wings will be able to provide downtown appeal in the months between the end of the NBA season and the start of the pro football and college seasons. Dallas residents approved a hotel occupancy tax increase to redevelop Fair Park and the Convention Center and add a deck park spanning Interstate 30.
The Dallas Wings are one of the few WNBA teams that doesn't play in an arena that also has NBA and NHL franchises. The College Park Center is one of the smaller venues in the league, seating approximately 7,000 people. The move to Dallas Memorial Auditorium could increase capacity to nearly 10,000 seats, and fans and teams will benefit from easy access to his DART rail.
Dallas Memorial Auditorium was once home to the American Basketball Association team that became the San Antonio Spurs, and hosted performances by notable artists such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones.
You wouldn't expect such brilliance in an era of much larger and more acoustically sophisticated venues. But we want to hear the thump of basketballs and the squeak of sneakers in the heart of downtown Dallas.
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