{"id":332089,"date":"2026-06-11T12:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/332089\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:14:27","slug":"dallas-stars-move-to-plano-raises-dfw-traffic-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/332089\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Stars\u2019 move to Plano raises DFW traffic concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLANO<\/p>\n

Satan\u2019s winning bingo card reads: \u201c183, 287, 121, 820, 635, 20, 30, 35.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throw in the words \u201ctoll way\u201d or \u201cGeorge Bush\u201d and residents of North Texas are liable to burst into tears, for there is no rubric to the equation of driving anywhere in Dallas-Fort Worth does not come with pain, suffering, and money.<\/p>\n

After a first, second and third look at the artist renderings of the proposed new arena for the Dallas Stars in Plano, you\u2019ll get a migraine when you think about the drive<\/a>, followed by panic attacks over the thought of where to park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can\u2019t do is hand out 18,000 parking passes for 18,000 parking spots,\u201d Dallas Stars president Brad Alberts told the Star-Telegram this week.<\/p>\n

As of today, that\u2019s how it looks.<\/p>\n

This week, the city of Plano unanimously passed a measure to give the Stars $700 million to build a new arena and entertainment complex at the site of the Shops at Willow Bend.<\/a> This has been the worst secret in DFW sports for more than a year, and the announcement confirms the team to intends to leave the American Airlines Center when the lease expires in the spring of 2031.<\/p>\n

The biggest priority for the Stars and the city of Plano is to create decent solutions to what is now this region\u2019s most dreaded challenge \u2014 traffic, and parking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask me today, transportation and traffic is No. 1 on our list of concerns,\u201d Alberts said. \u201cWe all realize that from a fan experience, this location has to be better than the American Airlines Center. We can\u2019t have people stuck at 635 and the tollway moving at 2 miles per hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godspeed.<\/p>\n

The Stars\u2019 future and DFW traffic<\/p>\n

The biggest reason the Stars are leaving for Plano is a free $700 million,<\/a> and the chance to co-own a real estate development. Dallas could not come close to offering what Plano did to recruit the Stars.<\/p>\n

Another reason \u2014 this is where Stars fans live. After the Stars moved here from Minnesota, the consistent growth of their fanbase, and their most stable area, has been Collin County. As this region continues to grow, they believe Plano will be more of a central area.<\/p>\n

Their issue now is the legal torture device that is DFW traffic. It does not matter the day, or the time, it\u2019s all awful; now weekends are no longer sacred. Interstate 30 is a drag strip full of sedans, SUVs, pickup trucks and 18-wheelers that combine to move at the average speed of 23 mph.<\/p>\n

Interstate 35, W or E, is a Quentin Tarantino<\/a> movie.<\/p>\n

The commute, and cost, to DFW Airport is longer, and more expensive, than most flights. The tollways cost $20 just to save three minutes. Interstate 20 moves just fine, if you\u2019re near Abilene.<\/p>\n

The new Stars arena will be located off the Dallas autobahn, more commonly called the Dallas North Tollway, which over the last decade has become one of the busiest main roads in DFW.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to figure out a realistic option to minimize, or to get, people off the tollway,\u201d Alberts said. \u201cThere will be some aspect of public transportation there. I know it won\u2019t be a DART station. That would not be there by 2031.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the best features to the American Airlines Center is that it\u2019s easily accessible by train; the Victory Plaza station is a tremendous feature for fans. There is nothing remotely like this at the Shops at Willow Bend,<\/a> which is an area that was built for cars so people could park and walk around a mall.<\/p>\n

There are currently two DART stations in Plano<\/a>, both of which are approximately 10 miles east of the Stars\u2019 new site. The closest light rail option is a station in Addison, which is 6.2 miles south.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about 2031, so who knows what ride-share will look like by then; we have robots that drive cars now, and in five years technology will advance this,\u201d Alberts said. \u201cThe city is committed to getting this right. We\u2019ve already started this conversation because this is a very, very important aspect to this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get why this is a concern, and we have to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stars are not the Arizona Coyotes<\/p>\n

A fear circulating since this announcement is that the Stars moving to the suburbs will go \u201cas well\u201d as the Coyotes\u2019 move from Phoenix to the suburb of Glendale, Arizona.<\/p>\n

In 2003, the Coyotes left downtown Phoenix<\/a> for a new entertainment district that had an arena, and a football stadium for the Arizona Cardinals in suburban Glendale. The Cardinals are still there, but the development bombed for the Coyotes.<\/p>\n

Glendale is the \u2018burbs, the team didn\u2019t win much since it moved to Arizona from Winnipeg in 1996,<\/a> and what fans there were all lived in the east valley. They didn\u2019t want to make the 45-minute drive to Glendale.<\/p>\n

The ownership situation with the franchise was unstable, at best, and in 2022 the team moved to Arizona State\u2019s 5,000-seat Mullett Arena. An NHL team playing in a 5,000-seat arena was an embarrassment, and the team never could land a deal for a new arena. The Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City last year, where they are now the Utah Mammoth.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat example could not be any more different than this one,\u201d Alberts said.<\/p>\n

The Stars may be moving from Dallas to Plano, but under no reasonable, or unreasonable, scenario will this move lead to their departure from Texas. Part of the Stars\u2019 legacy is that their success here triggered the NHL\u2019s expansion into warm-weather cities.<\/p>\n

And solving that is nothing compared to figuring out DFW traffic.<\/p>\n

Game schedule dates, times, locations June 1 Rangers 2, St. Louis 1 June 2 Rangers 7, St. Louis 4 June 3 St. Louis 5, Rangers 3 June 5 Rangers 3, Cleveland 2 June 6 Cleveland 6, Rangers 0 June 7 Rangers 10, Cleveland 0 June 9 at Kansas City, 6:40 p.m., RSN June 10 at Kansas City, 6:40 p.m., RSN June 11 at Kansas City, 1:10 p.m., RSN June 12 at Boston, 6:10 p.m., CW June 13 at Boston, 3:10 p.m., RSN June 14 at Boston, 6:20 p.m., NBC, Peacock May 22 Atlanta 86, Wings 69 May 24 Wings 91, New York 76 May 28 Wings 95, Las Vegas 87 June 1 Wings 79, Seattle 56 June 5 Wings 104, Los Angeles 96 June 9 at Minnesota, 7 p.m., KFAA June 11 vs. Phoenix, 8 p.m., Amazon Prime Video June 13 at Portland, 7:30 p.m., KFAA June 15 vs. Las Vegas, 7 p.m., KFAA, USA June 17 at Golden State, 9 p.m., KFAA 2026 season Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, 7 p.m., ESPN+ Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, 7 p.m., ESPNU Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA Nov. 6 at Arizona, 9:15 p.m., ESPN Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN Sept. 13 at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m., NBC Sept. 20 vs. Washington, 3:25 p.m., Fox Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS Oct. 4 at Houston, 12 p.m., Fox Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video Oct. 18 at Green Bay, 7:20 p.m., NBC Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA All local matches at AT&T Stadium Group stage June 14 Netherlands vs. Japan (Group F), 3 p.m., Fox June 17 England vs. Croatia (Group L), 3 p.m., Fox June 22 Argentina vs. Austria (Group J), 12 p.m., Fox June 25 Japan vs. Sweden (Group F), 6 p.m., FS1 June 27 Argentina vs. Jordan (Group J), 9 p.m., Fox Knockout round June 30 Round of 32: Group E runner-up vs. Group I runner-up, 12 p.m., Fox July 3 Round of 32: Group D runner-up vs. Group G runner-up, 1 p.m., Fox July 6 Round of 16: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox July 14 Semifinal: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox May 2 FC Dallas 2, NY Red Bulls 0 May 9 FC Dallas 3, Salt Lake 1 May 13 Vancouver 3, FC Dallas 2 May 16 FC Dallas 3, San Jose 2 May 23 FC Dallas 2, Colorado 1 World Cup break July 22 at Portland, 9:30 p.m., Apple TV July 25 at San Diego, 8:30 p.m., FS1, Apple TV June 13 NASCAR Racing Experience June 20 Team Texas – David Starr’s Racing School June 20 Drift n Drag July 11 NASCAR Racing Experience July 11 Hearts in High Gear July 25 Drift n Drag <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Mac Engel<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
\n Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PLANO Satan\u2019s winning bingo card reads: \u201c183, 287, 121, 820, 635, 20, 30, 35.\u201d Throw in the words…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-332089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}