Dallas: American Airlines Center

American Airlines Center opened on July 17, 2001, with the Eagles christening the building the next night, and has anchored Dallas’s Victory Park development ever since — a roughly $420 million arena built on the former site of a downtown power plant near Interstate 35E.

Built for Two Franchises, Booked for Everyone

The arena is owned by the City of Dallas and operated by Center Operating Company, a joint venture between the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, its two primary tenants. Architect David M. Schwarz — who would later design Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena using a similar playbook — gave the building premium suites and club levels typical of a major-market arena, wrapped around a bowl that reconfigures for basketball, hockey, or a full concert setup. Basketball games can draw up to 21,146 with standing room, hockey up to 19,323, and touring concerts around 21,000.

Three NBA Finals and Counting

Beyond its role as home ice and home court, American Airlines Center has hosted three NBA Finals (2006, 2011, and 2024), the 2007 NHL All-Star Game, NCAA tournament games, UFC cards, and WWE programming, alongside a steady run of the biggest arena tours to come through North Texas.

The arena sits a short trip from the Echo Lounge and Music Hall in the Design District, giving Dallas concertgoers a genuine range of room sizes within a few miles of each other. Victory Park around the arena has its own restaurants and bars for a pre-show meal, and doors typically open about 90 minutes before a scheduled concert start.

I’ve been here ♪