Workers prepare for the Republican Party’s upcoming convention at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Monday, August 31, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
The circus has left the building, but another kind of juggling act is just getting started.
Trucks carrying risers, fencing and other event equipment lined up Monday outside American Airlines Center as Freeman, a North Texas-based global event production company, began transforming the arena for next week’s Republican convention.
Workers for Freeman, a Dallas-Fort Worth-based global event production company, file into American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Monday, August 31, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
For Freeman, the assignment is both a homecoming and a sprint.
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The company began its decadeslong run as the GOP’s convention contractor in 1984 in Dallas, where President Ronald Reagan won renomination.
Forty-two years later, Republicans are returning for a convention-style rally with no official party business, announced by President Donald Trump barely two months before he takes the stage.
Read more: Trump’s Dallas Convention: Complete coverage
What Freeman builds will help shape how the Sept. 9-10 event and its speakers are presented to the country.
The home of the Dallas Mavericks and Stars will become something close to a giant TV studio, with a large stage framed by LED screens, camera positions, media suites and broadcast areas.
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Together, those elements are designed to project the party’s message far beyond the supporters and spectators inside, aimed at voters in advance of the November election.
Dallas is preparing a Republican convention at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Monday, August 31, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Preparing an arena for a political convention typically takes several weeks. Freeman has about 10 days to create it all.
The curtains closed on a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey performance on Aug. 30 and the Republican organizers moved in.
“We’re building this plane as we fly it,” said Trump aide John Hiller, who was sent to Dallas as CEO of the convention. “We’re on a short timeline, but we’ve got a great team.”
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Freeman declined multiple requests for comment, but its staff assisted media outlets during a tour of the arena last month.
A deep resume
Since 1984, Freeman has been the go-to general service contractor for Republican conventions.
The company supported the party’s conventions in Milwaukee in 2024, Cleveland in 2016 and Tampa in 2012. The 2020 convention was largely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Freeman was paid about $14.7 million for its work for the 2024 GOP convention, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
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Freeman is headquartered near the Dallas North Tollway and Spring Valley Road, but it reaches sites across the world.
The company has helped create events such as the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Washington.
This convention is unprecedented because it is set during a midterm instead of a presidential election, when the party normally hosts a nominating convention.
Workers stand outside American Airlines Center as work begins for an upcoming Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, Monday, August 31, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Convention buildouts typically take four to six weeks, while dismantling the sites can take another one to two weeks. In Dallas, Freeman must work much faster.
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From Aug. 28-30, American Airlines Center hosted “The Greatest Show on Earth,” the circus performance.
The turnaround will also be tight after the convention. Tame Impala is scheduled to perform at the arena Sept. 17, giving Freeman one week to clear the site.
Setting the stage
By Monday morning, crews were already at work inside American Airlines Center as truckloads of equipment and materials arrived to turn the sports arena into the setting for a nationally televised political spectacle.
Workers from Alongi Media, AT&T and Event Flooring Contractors waited along Victory Avenue and All Star Way before being directed into an arena parking lot.
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AT&T employees carried ladders and tools through a security checkpoint as Freeman workers moved in and out of the building.
Related: Dallas maps Trump convention street closures, but possible protest sites remain unclear
Trucks carried materials like spotlights to American Airlines Center in preparation for the upcoming midterm Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, Monday, August 31, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
During the media tour in early August, Freeman used curtains and rods to mark the outlines of its plans for the arena.
The layout called for a stage at one end of the floor and a camera area on a riser near the other.
The compressed schedule must leave time for the Secret Service to conduct a security sweep.
Media suites are also being built in an upper-level box-seating area. Chairs will be removed and platforms installed to create workspaces, including a “stand-up” area where social media influencers can record videos.