However, the Wings will still be practicing and playing games in UT Arlington\u2019s 7,000-seat arena, College Park Center, when the 2026 season kicks off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In April of 2024, the city council approved a 15-year use agreement for the team to play in Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas Memorial Arena. The deal included the construction of a new practice facility, and the franchise had planned for 2025 to be its last season on the college campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The downtown arena was first delayed last spring<\/a>, with the building now set to host the International Broadcast Center for this summer\u2019s FIFA World Cup. Still, the franchise went ahead, hoping to have a new practice facility ready by this April, holding a groundbreaking ceremony at the Oak Cliff location in September 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to say as we go into the next phase, we want you to hold us accountable,\u201d city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said then. \u201cAnd my commitment is that we will deliver this practice facility for you by the spring of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked then if he had any doubts on the timeline, Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb referred back to the initial 2024 agreement and Tolbert\u2019s words, saying the team planned to be in the building in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily<\/p>\n We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n The Wings\u2019 downtown move was emphasized throughout 2025 as the team expected to rise both on the court and off it. Dallas welcomed No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers last year, a second-team All-WNBA selection and Rookie of the Year in her first season.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team still finished in last place with a 10-34 record, and looks toward a key offseason to help improve. They have the top pick again for the 2026 draft, and a wide-open free agency period may also help. Neither of those things will happen until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is reached, but the Wings planned on having a new facility to help lure talent when the time comes.<\/p>\n Instead, they\u2019ll remain at College Park Center, sharing it with UT Arlington, where graduation ceremonies in August left only one of the building\u2019s three courts available for practice. A scheduling conflict with the men\u2019s college basketball team that same day moved the practice time back.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then-head coach Chris Koclanes called the situation \u201cpandemonium,\u201d and looked ahead to the move to a new facility.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re grateful for the moment, but excited to get our own space, which these players deserve, and we won\u2019t run into issues like this in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Order \u2018Rare Gems\u2019 and save 30% If you enjoy Megdal\u2019s coverage of women\u2019s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love \u201cRare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.\u201d Click the link below to order<\/a> and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout to save 30%!<\/p>\n College Park Center is the third-smallest arena in the WNBA by capacity, only larger than Washington\u2019s CareFirst Arena (4,200) and Atlanta\u2019s Gateway Center Arena (3,500).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. \u201cRare Gems\u201d follows four connected generations of women\u2019s basketball pioneers, from Elvera \u201cPeps\u201d Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.<\/p>\n