{"id":493394,"date":"2026-02-27T09:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/493394\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T09:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:45:08","slug":"dallas-council-members-push-to-explore-american-airlines-center-as-wings-new-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/493394\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas council members push to explore American Airlines Center as Wings\u2019 new home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Dallas City Council members are pushing for the city to consider moving the Dallas Wings into the American Airlines Center as delays and cost overruns continue to plague the WNBA team\u2019s planned relocation to a new practice facility and downtown arena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Council members Adam Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon and Paul Ridley filed a memo Wednesday asking the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention to discuss using the home arena of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars as a potential practice facility and game-day location for the Wings. <\/p>\n

Both the NBA and NHL teams have lease agreements with the arena that are due to expire in 2031, and both franchises are actively exploring options to leave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The memo was addressed to committee chair Chad West and filed during Wednesday\u2019s council meeting, where members delayed a vote on shifting financial responsibility for the Wings\u2019 stalled Oak Cliff practice facility<\/a> to the team. The Wings declined to comment Thursday.<\/p>\n

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The Wings, who call the University of Texas at Arlington\u2019s College Park Center home, played two regular season games at the American Airlines Center last year<\/a>. They are scheduled to play three games in the arena this season<\/a>, which begins in May.<\/p>\n

The Wings, in 2024, committed to relocating from Arlington to Dallas<\/a>, with the city promising a renovated Dallas Memorial Auditorium ready by the start of the 2026 WNBA season. The city also committed to building a new practice facility in Oak Cliff by this spring<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But city officials now say the training center, which has grown in costs from around $54 million to $81 million, won\u2019t be ready until April 2027 and the revamped arena near the convention center is delayed until April 2028. <\/p>\n

The City Council postponed a vote Wednesday on a proposed revised deal for the practice facility that would cap the city\u2019s contribution at $57 million, with the Wings covering the rest. The $57 million would include a $653,000 reimbursement to the Wings, which, if accepted, would prevent the WNBA team from suing the city over the delays, according to city records. <\/p>\n

Blackmon and Bazaldua told The Dallas Morning News they believe the American Airlines Center should at least be explored as a temporary solution for the Wings, since it is already move-in ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obvious they need a place to go. So why don\u2019t we see if (the AAC) is available,\u201d Blackmon said. \u201cI\u2019m sure people will come back and say something is not right, but you know what, it\u2019s worth it to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bazaldua said he expects the discussion to explore whether the Wings could move into the AAC permanently, potentially saving taxpayers money while addressing the team\u2019s immediate needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to be creative and open-minded in what we can realistically offer a team,\u201d he said. \u201cI also think that we need to be prudent and smart about the assets that we know are soon to be vacated.\u201d<\/p>\n

West said Thursday that he\u2019s open to the committee discussing the idea, but a date for that discussion hasn\u2019t been finalized. <\/p>\n

He also warned that the Mavericks already hold the rights for the AAC\u2019s basketball practice facilities, raising legal questions about whether the city could repurpose the arena for the Wings without violating existing agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to obviously discuss it, but a lot of that will probably be in executive session because we\u2019ll have to have the lawyers dig into what authority we have as a council and what we don\u2019t,\u201d West told The News. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur direct control is over the AAC itself. But if the AAC has contracted out under long-term leases to the Mavericks or other users, we can\u2019t just step in and change those terms,\u201d he said. \u201cNor would we want to, if we\u2019re going to be a good partner with our hometown teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff writer Myah Taylor contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three Dallas City Council members are pushing for the city to consider moving the Dallas Wings into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[1062,63760,50144,2834,45809,99,13469,434],"class_list":["post-493394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-city-council","tag-dallas-city-hall","tag-dallas-wings","tag-downtown-dallas","tag-sports","tag-wings","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}