The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesot ...

of the National Hockey League. The arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment. It was opened in 2001 at a cost of $420 million.

History and construction

By 1998, the Dallas Mavericks, then owned by H. Ross Perot Jr., and the Dallas Stars were indicating their desire for a new arena to replace the aging and undersized

Reunion Arena Reunion Arena was an indoor arena located in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena served as the primary home of the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars and the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks. The venue ...

. Dallas taxpayers approved a new hotel tax and rental car tax to pay for a new arena to cover a portion of the funding, with the two benefiting teams, the Mavericks and the Stars, picking up the remaining costs, including cost overruns. The new arena was to be built just north of

Woodall Rodgers Freeway Woodall may refer to: People Given name *Woodall Rodgers (1890–1961), attorney, businessman and mayor of Dallas Surname *Al Woodall (b. 1945), American football player *Corbet Woodall (1929–1982), British newsreader for the BBC * Derek Woodal ...

near Interstate 35E on the site of an old power plant. On March 18, 1999,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

(AA) announced that it would be acquiring the naming rights for the arena for $195 million. AA is headquartered in nearby

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

and is based at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. From its opening in 2001 until 2013, the AAC had the then-current AA logo; thereafter the AAC has used the current AA logo. The first event occurred the next day with an

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...

concert. Outdoors on the plaza before the Eagles concert, Tom Chaffee & the Saturnalia instrumental rock in jazz band played while patrons entered the venue. On the next night, the arena hosted the last show of Michael Flatley's Feet of Flames tour. The first sporting event took place on August 19, 2001, with the Dallas Sidekicks of the

World Indoor Soccer League The World Indoor Soccer League (WISL) was a United States-based indoor soccer league that existed from 1998 to 2001 and consisted of nine teams. History After the demise of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, four of its teams decided to create ...

taking on the San Diego Sockers. The AAC includes a practice court for the Mavericks, who used it for regular practices until 2017 when a separate facility was built in the Dallas Design District near the arena. The Mavericks' lease on the AAC runs through to 2031, and once it runs out owner Mark Cuban has considered a new arena to replace the AAC.

Design

Principal design work was carried out by the

Driehaus Prize The Driehaus Architecture Prize, fully named The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame, is a global award to honor a major contributor in the field of contemporary traditional and classical architecture. The Driehaus Prize was ...

winner and New Classical architect

David M. Schwarz David M. Schwarz (born 26 January 1951) is an American architect and designer. He is the President & CEO of Washington, D.C.-based David M. Schwarz Architects, Inc. and serves as the Chairman of the Yale School of Architecture's Dean's Council ...

Washington D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Center was designed to be the heart of a new urban, commercial area designed to reinvigorate the city of Dallas called Victory Park. The facility itself features a conservative, traditional design with sweeping brick façades and smooth arches. The interior includes retractable seating, public art and a technological arena. Because of the Quonset hut-like appearance of its roof and the fact that American Airlines holds the naming rights some fans have come to refer to it as "The Hangar".

PNC Plaza

On the south side of the arena, PNC Plaza (formerly called Victory Plaza and

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

Plaza) serves as the principal entrance into the facility. Designed by artist

Athena Tacha Athena Tacha ( el, Αθηνά Τάχα; born in Larissa, Greece, 1936-), is a multimedia visual artist. She is best known for her work in the fields of environmental public sculpture and conceptual art. She also worked in a wide array of materials ...

in 2000, the plaza provides an open space with fountains flanked by retail and office buildings. With several

HD video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (N ...

displays from

Daktronics Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. Founded in 1968 by ...

mounted on the side of the arena and office buildings, the plaza is often used for outdoor events and movie showings. File:American Airlines Center, 06-16-11.jpg, American Airlines Center-Mavericks Victory Party for NBA Championship 2011. File:American Airlines Center2242.JPG, Inside American Airlines Center prior to a Mavericks game. File:Detroit Red Wings vs. Dallas Stars January 2020 02 (in-game action).jpg, Inside American Airlines Center during a Stars game. File:American Airlines Center West Entrance.jpg, Western entrance of the American Airlines Center before game 3 of the

2019 Stanley Cup playoffs The 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL). The playoffs began on April 10, 2019, after the 2018–19 regular season, and concluded on June 12, 2019, with the St. Louis Blues winning their first ...

between the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators File:American Airlines Center NHL Playoffs.jpg, American Airlines Center during warmups before game 3 of the

between the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators

Notable events

Sports

*After the

Dallas Desperados The Dallas Desperados were a professional arena football team based in Dallas, Texas. The Desperados played in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League from 2002 to 2008. The franchise began play in as an expansion team, and have post ...

played their first season in the AAC, they moved to nearby

and played there for their second season. For their third season, they moved back to the AAC, where they played until the league folded. *The AAC hosted the Big 12 Basketball tournament in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...

. *The

PBR PBR may refer to: Science and technology * Passive bistatic radar * Partition boot record * Pebble bed reactor, a type of nuclear reactor * Peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, another name for translocator protein * Phosphorus bromide * Photo ...

hosted a

Built Ford Tough Series The Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) was the elite series tour name of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competitions from 2003 to 2017. The BFTS kicked off its tour on November 16, 2002 with the Mohegan Sun Invitational in Uncasville, Connecticut ...

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to bucking, buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." ...

event at the AAC, annually, between 2005 & 2009. *The American Airlines Center, as well as the then-named

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture fi ...

in Miami, Florida, hosted the

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

NBA Finals, in which the Dallas Mavericks played the Miami Heat in both franchises' first two Finals appearances. The Heat won the 2006 series 4-2, closing out in Dallas, and the Mavericks won the 2011 series 4-2, closing in Miami. Because American Airlines held the rights to both venues in the NBA Finals, these series were nicknamed by some as the "American Airlines series". *Hosted the

55th National Hockey League All-Star Game The 2007 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in Dallas, on January 24, 2007. The Western Conference was victorious, defeating the Eastern Conference 12–9. On January 23, 2006, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the event ...

on January 24, 2007. *Hosted a watch party for the

2020 Stanley Cup Finals The 2020 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2019–20 season and the culmination of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. This series was between the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning ...

between the

and Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the Stars lost to the Lightning in six games. * On Saturday June 18, 2011, it played host to Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum. * UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort was held at the Center on September 19, 2009. UFC 171: Hendricks vs. Lawler was held at the Center on March 15, 2014. UFC 185: Pettis vs. dos Anjos was held at the Center on March 14, 2015. UFC 211: Miocic vs. dos Santos 2 was held at the Center on May 13, 2017. UFC 228: Woodley vs. Till was held at the Center on September 8, 2018. UFC 277: Peña vs. Nunes 2 was held at the Center on July 30, 2022. *On September 24, 2016, the arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. *American Airlines Center hosted the opening round of round-robin matches of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's

G1 Climax The is a professional wrestling tournament held each August by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. Though it has sometimes been held as a single-elimination tournament, it is usually (and currently) held as a round-robin, with winners ...

series on July 6, 2019. *The arena also hosted the Junior Gold Championships Opening Ceremony. The Junior Gold championships is an annual bowling tournament every July, for the best youth bowlers in the country and in the world. *American Airlines Center hosted first and second round games of the

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

NCAA men's basketball tournaments. For the NCAA women's basketball tournament the American Airlines Center hosted the Finals in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a se ...

, along with the regional semifinals/finals in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh c ...

and

. *Two Mavericks games in early 2022--one against the Timberwolves on March 21 and a playoff against the Golden State Warriors on May 24--had to be delayed when the roof developed a leak. *American Airlines Center has also hosted

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

events as well, including its regular weekly shows '' Raw'' and ''

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simul ...

'', and it's PPV events including Survivor Series 2003, Night of Champions 2008,

Hell in a Cell Hell in a Cell is a professional wrestling steel cage-based match which originated in 1997 in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It features a large cell structure, a five-sided cuboid made from open-weave steel mesh chain-link fenc ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

and 2014, TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2016),

WWE Great Balls of Fire WWE Great Balls of Fire was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. The event took place on July 9, 2017, at the Americ ...

, and

NXT Stand & Deliver (2022) The 2022 NXT Stand & Deliver was the second annual Stand & Deliver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on Saturday, Apri ...

, the arena also hosted the 2022 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on April 1, being notable for The Undertaker being inducted and headlining this year's aforementioned event.

In film and TV

*The AAC was pictured in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' episode "

The Burns and the Bees "The Burns and the Bees" is the eighth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 7, 2008. In the episode, during a poker game, M ...

" as "Dallas Arena". *On Tuesday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 22, 2011, it played host to the Dallas audition stages in the first season of the Fox singer search programme ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''.

Other events

*On Monday, September 14, 2015,

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

presidential candidate Donald Trump held a campaign rally in the arena. * A rally for President Donald Trump was held Thursday, October 17, 2019 in the arena.

Other information

*Built on and in the shadows of the former Dallas neighborhood of

Little Mexico Little Mexico is a former neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, encompassing the area bordered by Maple Avenue, McKinney Avenue and the MKT (Missouri, Kansas, Texas) Railroad. Formerly a Polish Jewish neighborhood, it was settled by a wave of Mexican imm ...

, the beginnings of the Mexican American population in the Dallas area. *A few weeks after the first event, it was found that the glass installed in the bathrooms was not the same as what was originally intended. Many who drove by the arena complained they had a clear view into the restrooms. The glass was quickly changed to the correct type the next week.

References

External links

American Airlines CenterArena map and directionsStadiumJourney Dallas Mavericks reviewStadiumJourney Dallas Stars review
{{Authority control 2001 establishments in Texas American Airlines Arena football venues Basketball venues in Texas Dallas Mavericks venues Dallas Stars arenas Gymnastics venues in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Ice hockey venues in Texas Mixed martial arts venues in Texas Music venues in Dallas National Basketball Association venues National Hockey League venues Wrestling venues in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Sports venues completed in 2001 Sports venues in Dallas David M. Schwarz buildings Indoor arenas in Texas Northland Properties New Classical architecture