A review of the Wings\u2019 2026 home schedule and the AAC\u2019s online event calendar shows at least 15 additional dates between May and August when it might have been possible for the Wings to play at the AAC because no other events are listed.<\/p>\n
Dallas has already paid the Wings $18 million of a $19 million incentive tied to relocating to the city.<\/p>\n
City spokesman Rick Ericson confirmed Friday that the city is “current on payments under the agreement and the Dallas Wings organization has delivered what it promised.” The contract ties the $19 million incentive to specific conditions, including the Wings playing at least 70 games a year in Dallas, relocating to the Dallas Memorial Auditorium by the 2026 WNBA season, and complying with local hiring and wage requirements.<\/p>\n
The incentive payments range from $2.6 million to $6.3 million between July 2024 and July 2025, according to the agreement. The last installment of $1 million is due by June 1.<\/p>\n
According to the agreement, the city and Wings agreed the alternative site the\u00a0WNBA team would be playing in if the convention center arena wasn\u2019t done on time \u201cwill be the city owned American Airlines Center.\u201d The Dallas Wings could extend their use of the American Airlines Center for up to three additional five-year terms, but only if the City Council approves it.<\/p>\n
Rosa Fleming, the city\u2019s convention and event services director, sent a letter to American Airlines Center General Manager Greg Brown in July 2024 confirming the AAC as an alternate site for the Wings.<\/p>\n
Brown confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that city officials initially asked the AAC to serve as a backup site for the Wings, and the AAC agreed. He clarified that any actual arrangement for the Wings to use the arena would require direct negotiations between the AAC and the Wings, and no negotiations have taken place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know what the deal is because they\u2019ve already rented the building,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo it\u2019s just up to them to come to us, which they haven\u2019t done.”<\/p>\n
When asked why the Wings aren\u2019t playing more at the American Airlines Center this season, Ericson said the city is “actively working with the Dallas Wings to solidify a contingency plan for the team\u2019s 2027 home venue.”<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t respond to further questions about why the AAC clause isn\u2019t being exercised now or if any hurdles are preventing its use. Wings CEO and Managing Partner Greg Bibb declined to comment through a spokesman. Rosa Fleming, the city\u2019s convention and events services director, deferred questions to Ericson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A review of the Wings\u2019 2026 home schedule and the AAC\u2019s online event calendar shows at least 15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,249345,249341,249342,249343,249344,249346,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-563180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tp-american-airlines-center","10":"tag-tp-dallas-city-council","11":"tag-tp-dallas-city-hall","12":"tag-tp-dallas-wings","13":"tag-tp-downtown-dallas","14":"tag-tp-dallas","15":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563180","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=563180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}