Stars CEO Says Tear Down American Airlines Center

Dallas Stars CEO Brad Alberts is pitching a plan for what should happen when the Stars and Mavericks leave the 25-year-old American Airlines Center: rip it down to the studs.

In an interview with the Dallas Business Journal, Alberts endorsed the idea that once the Mavs and Stars vacate their long-time downtown Dallas home, it should be demolished. Three arenas within 15 miles of each other is too much, Alberts said, which would be the scenario after the NBA and NHL franchise teams build their own stadiums. The Mavericks have publicly committed to Valley View for their new arena, which is technically within Dallas city limits, but not in the downtown area. The Stars have committed to building a new arena-and-entertainment complex in Plano, at The Shops at Willow Bend. Both new stadiums and their amenities are expected to cost billions.

Both teams’ leases at the American Airlines Center are up in 2031. Both teams have been playing at the AAC since its doors opened in 2001. The pair chose to soft commit via nonbinding contracts to locations outside of the downtown area. The outlet states that the Stars considered renovating the AAC, but the venture would’ve cost as much as building a new arena that they could reap all the revenue from.

Plano offered the Stars 100 percent control of their $3 billion proposal for a new arena and entertainment district. The project’s developers, Centennial Real Estate and Cawley Partners, can now conduct traffic studies and make other preparations for the development following last Monday’s Plano City Council approval vote. Plano also proposed chipping in $700 million if development costs run over $1 billion. The letter of intent is nonbinding, but Alberts has already signed it.

City officials, including Mayor Eric Johnson, are not resigned to the AAC’s fate. Johnson has stated multiple times over the course of this year that he believes concessions could be made to keep the Stars in Dallas, or that they could give them a deal on a City Hall redevelopment opportunity.

— Hunter Cooke