{"id":545396,"date":"2026-03-26T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545396\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T01:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:00:09","slug":"dallas-wings-eye-2027-move-to-new-practice-facility-and-maybe-american-airlines-center-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545396\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Wings eye 2027 move to new practice facility and maybe American Airlines Center too"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Wings<\/a> won\u2019t train at a new practice facility or play games at downtown\u2019s Memorial Auditorium in 2026 as initially expected, but a 2027 move to Dallas seems set in motion.<\/p>\n

Dallas City Council voted 13-2 Wednesday<\/a> for the Wings to take over as the developer of their 70,000-square-foot practice facility planned at Joey Georgusis Park in Far West Oak Cliff, and the team has engaged in discussions with American Airlines Center about playing the 2027 season there, CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb told The Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n

Bibb said the Wings have not finalized a deal with AAC, home to the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> and Dallas Stars<\/a>, at this time. Regarding the practice facility, he said the organization wants construction underway by the end of April so that it is ready for the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy becoming the developer, we are now directly engaged in the construction of the facility,\u2019 Bibb said. \u201c We are working with the construction folks, the subcontractors. We are managing the construction timeline and schedule. We are managing the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The recent developments surrounding the Wings\u2019 move to Dallas come just weeks before WNBA free agency begins and two years after the team signed a 15-year, $19 million agreement with the City of Dallas to move into a renovated Memorial Auditorium and new practice facility by the start of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

The move was supposed to correspond with a new collective bargaining agreement, which had been negotiated through March 18, months after the old CBA expired. Under the new landmark <\/a>CBA, player salaries<\/a> will increase across the league, which will have million-dollar athletes for the first time in its 30-year history.<\/p>\n

More than 100 players are free agents in 2026, including the Wings\u2019 own Arike Ogunbowale<\/a>, Myisha Hines-Allen and Tyasha Harris. The negotiation period starts April 9 and players can sign deals on April 12, the day before the WNBA draft.<\/p>\n

Dallas, which drafted Paige Bueckers<\/a> No. 1 overall in 2025, also has the top pick in 2026.<\/p>\n

With that in mind and an unprecedented free agency beginning April 7, Bibb said it\u2019s imperative that progress had been made on the move to Dallas from UT-Arlington\u2019s College Park Center, where the Wings will continue to practice and play games for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first started down this path in late 2022, my goal was to have a facility open for the \u201926 season, and when we signed the deal with the City of Dallas, that was the intent and what is outlined in the agreement,\u201d Bibb said.\u201d Unfortunately for multiple reasons, \u201926 is no longer reality, but we are committed to getting this done in time for the \u201927 season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Construction on Memorial Auditorium was delayed when the city submitted a bid to FIFA and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center was named host of the 2026 World Cup\u2019s International Broadcast Center<\/a>. That scrapped initial plans for the new practice facility to be built adjacent to the auditorium.<\/p>\n

While the city promised to deliver the team a new training site in Far West Oak Cliff by spring 2026, shovels have yet to hit the ground. Now that the responsibility for the at least $81 million practice facility has shifted to the team, that should change. But Memorial Auditorium won\u2019t be ready by 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer our use and incentive agreement, the American Airlines Center is identified as the alternative venue for our team,\u201d Bibb said.<\/p>\n

The Wings played two regular season games at the venue in 2025 and are slated for three games at AAC in 2026. It could be their temporary home during the 2027 season, as the team awaits a renovated Memorial Auditorium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By then, the team expects to be settled into its new practice facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the delays and the ups and the downs, we remain as committed as ever to our long-term partnership with the City of Dallas. We\u2019re excited to get to downtown Dallas and help with the revitalization of downtown,\u201d Bibb said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re really excited to get started on the construction of a practice facility that will provide our athletes with everything they need to be competitive in the WNBA and the best version of themselves, while also delivering a facility that will provide very direct, specific benefit to the citizens of Dallas, particularly those that live in and around Far West Oak Cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Renderings<\/a>Dallas Wings must build own practice facility after city delays, cost overruns<\/a><\/p>\n

The City Council approved the WNBA team now overseeing the building of its new $81 million practice facility.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas City Council to vote Wednesday on future of Wings\u2019 facility project in Oak Cliff<\/a><\/p>\n

A standstill has put the Wings behind other WNBA clubs in what could be a franchise-changing offseason.<\/p>\n

Find more Wings coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Wings won\u2019t train at a new practice facility or play games at downtown\u2019s Memorial Auditorium in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[39387,1062,63760,2834,2559,2833,99,13469,434],"class_list":["post-545396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-american-airlines-center","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-city-council","tag-dallas-wings","tag-local-politics","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-sports","tag-wings","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545396","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=545396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}