Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

This arena is being built on the south side of the Will Rogers complex along Montgomery north of I-30. It has a complimentary architecture to other buildings in the Will Rogers area. The arena will open in November of next year.



(This picture, from the architecture firm's site, shows an early version prior to the naming of Dickies as the firm that ended up with the naming rights to the arena.)

George Strait has been named as the performer at the first concert that will take place after the opening of the new arena. Tickets went on sale recently and many were unhappy that prices were high for the tickets; it appeared that resellers got in ahead of fans and the general public.

https://dickiesarena.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickies_Arena
https://www.star-telegram.com/entertain ... 38830.html

Why does everything built in Fort Worth look like that?

Fort Worth keeps it classy

vman wrote:Why does everything built in Fort Worth look like that?

My understanding is the design is to compliment the original Will Rogers coliseum area including the Pioneer tower, which has an Art Deco flair. Personally, while some may think it kitsch, I'd like to see Fort Worth's next tallest building play off Pioneer tower...a sort of Art Deco revival, if you will.

vman wrote:Why does everything built in Fort Worth look like that?

I’m assuming you’ve never been to the rodeo grounds and livestock show area? This design keeps with, and continues the theme and historic architecture of that area. Anything else would seem out of place, IMO.

It's not a bad looking arena it just looks like Fort Worth.

Actually I think what he's picking up on is the neotraditionalist aesthetic of longtime DC+FW architecture firm David M Schwarz

https://www.traditionalbuilding.com/pro ... architects

KXAS/5 gets a peek inside the upcoming arena, which will open to the public 9 months from now.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Exclu ... 14371.html

One of the last additions to Dickies Arena was 2 mosaic-style murals at each end of the building.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/dickies-a ... med-murals

An open house for the arena was held on Saturday (includes video).

https://www.fox4news.com/news/new-dicki ... fort-worth

More from Ch.5 about the opening, including what food will be available.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dicki ... 57242.html
https://www.nbcdfw.com/entertainment/th ... 40692.html

Earlier this week, it was announced that the 2020 US Gymnastics Championships will be held at Dickies Arena. The event will take place June 4-7 and air on Ch.5 June 6-7.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/New-D ... 20551.html

1. In LA's Inland Empire you couldn't rival the Lakers-Clippers' local support and wouldn't want to
2. Montreal has hockey!
3. Tampa-St. Petersburg have NFL, MLB, and NHL already, which nearby Orlando doesn't
4. Fort Worth

Besides those three sport-saturated metros, the Fort Worth metropolitan division is the largest market north of the Rio Grande that's never had a major league basketball team. The league at present would rather do any western franchise expansion or repositioning back to Seattle and then Kansas City, supposedly.  But in ten or twelve more years when it's time to renovate Dickies Arena, if North Texas is a megacity of 10 million people, then Fort Worth will feel it's high time to stop cheering for the Mavericks and start cheering for a rival NBA squad.  Does this facility have the elbow room to accommodate that change later on?

It is interesting that Fort Worth was able to build a quality arena without a sports franchise to make an argument for the necessity to the taxpayers in a somewhat conservative city. Mind you I do wonder if it has the potential to have the club areas needed to attract a sports team. That would be a big need for any team in addition to the practice facilities which could be built offsite.

^The Bass Family had something to do with it.

The seating capacity for this arena is only 14,000. Far too small for an NBA franchise.

texasstar wrote:The seating capacity for this arena is only 14,000. Far too small for an NBA franchise.

I didn't understand the point of going to such expense to build an arena which would never be suitable for major sports events or franchises.

eburress wrote:

texasstar wrote:The seating capacity for this arena is only 14,000. Far too small for an NBA franchise.

I didn't understand the point of going to such expense to build an arena which would never be suitable for major sports events or franchises.

Concerts, Rodeo's, small convention space...

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:

eburress wrote:

texasstar wrote:The seating capacity for this arena is only 14,000. Far too small for an NBA franchise.

I didn't understand the point of going to such expense to build an arena which would never be suitable for major sports events or franchises.

Concerts, Rodeo's, small convention space...

Clearly Ft Worth felt concerts, rodeos, and small conventions were an adequate return on investment, but if it were my money I would spring for the extra ~4,000 seats so my shiny new building wasn't immediately out of consideration for bigger uses.

The arena was actually built to attract national sporting events as well... Games for the 1st and 2nd Round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament will be played here in 2022 (that's a big deal). It's also scheduled to host the NCAA Gymnastics Championship this April.

Texas A&M and UT are having a "Lone Star Showdown" men's basketball game next week. Also, TCU is scheduled to play 1 or 2 games here each year. It'll also host the American Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament in March.

And they have already had some success landing big concerts here that aren't going to Dallas! It's really off to an impressive start. I think on the concert front you'll see acts playing at both Dickie's and the AAC...

Kelley USA wrote:The arena was actually built to attract national sporting events as well... Games for the 1st and 2nd Round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament will be played here in 2022 (that's a big deal). It's also scheduled to host the NCAA Gymnastics Championship this April.

Texas A&M and UT are having a "Lone Star Showdown" men's basketball game next week. Also, TCU is scheduled to play 1 or 2 games here each year. It'll also host the American Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament in March.

And they have already had some success landing big concerts here that aren't going to Dallas! It's really off to an impressive start. I think on the concert front you'll see acts playing at both Dickie's and the AAC...

Again, Ft. Worth my find this adequate ROI but what will they do if they someday want to an NBA or NHL franchise, for example?

eburress wrote:

Kelley USA wrote:The arena was actually built to attract national sporting events as well... Games for the 1st and 2nd Round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament will be played here in 2022 (that's a big deal). It's also scheduled to host the NCAA Gymnastics Championship this April.

Texas A&M and UT are having a "Lone Star Showdown" men's basketball game next week. Also, TCU is scheduled to play 1 or 2 games here each year. It'll also host the American Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament in March.

And they have already had some success landing big concerts here that aren't going to Dallas! It's really off to an impressive start. I think on the concert front you'll see acts playing at both Dickie's and the AAC...

Again, Ft. Worth my find this adequate ROI but what will they do if they someday want to an NBA or NHL franchise, for example?

The prospects of that happening are almost zero for a number of specific reasons, but if it ever came to reality which would be 25+ years at the earliest then Dickie's Arena would practically be outdated (as silly as that sounds).

^ Luka will be retired and already in the Hall of Fame by then.

eburress wrote:

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:

eburress wrote:
I didn't understand the point of going to such expense to build an arena which would never be suitable for major sports events or franchises.

Concerts, Rodeo's, small convention space...

Clearly Ft Worth felt concerts, rodeos, and small conventions were an adequate return on investment, but if it were my money I would spring for the extra ~4,000 seats so my shiny new building wasn't immediately out of consideration for bigger uses.

WSJ just ran an article on this very topic. Specifically the flexibility of acts not having to schedule around NBA or NHL schedules, and having a venue that it tailored to music/shows vs sports is a draw.

"An arena can generate twice as much net income from hosting a concert than a National Basketball Association or National Hockey League game, according to Oak View.... Without an NHL or NBA team to schedule around, upward of 40 extra days a year are available for concerts. "

https://www.wsj.com/articles/concerts-are-new-arenas-main-attraction-rather-than-sports-11574159401

Maybe this arena is fort Worth getting ahead of the curve. And hopefully when the Maverick get a new arena, the current arena will be repurposed for the same events as dickies

tamtagon wrote:Maybe this arena is fort Worth getting ahead of the curve. And hopefully when the Maverick get a new arena, the current arena will be repurposed for the same events as dickies

Speaking of....we haven't heard anything new about that new arena for a while.

Considering the Mavericks are in a lease at AAC until 2031, we probably won't hear much soon...

The Mavs may play pre-season games there. Same with the Stars.

The Inglewood Forum in LA area was the home for the Lakers & Kings prior to the Staples Center's existence. It fell on hard times until Madison Square Garden Corporation purchased it and refurbished the arena to primarily accommodate concerts & other entertainment events. It has thrived and competes with Staples Center and the Pond in Anaheim for big concerts. Dickie's Arena is already booking big concerts, like Rod Stewart, so I expect it will become a successful venue for major concert tours that are playing in arenas.

Sigh... The last thing the region needs is another music venue.It's like venues just keep cannibalizing each other. Somethings gotta give.

^Fort Worth has needed a new concert venue for a long long time. How many large venues per million residents should there be? Because the region has been growing pretty fast, and was likely under-served.

One aspect of proper management at Fair Park I anticipate is a thorough renovation of Dos Equis Pavillion, the Band Shell and Music Hall... Dos Equis should be bigger and oriented so the Midway is a natural part of crowd ebb and flow; Band Shell and Music Hall needs a spacious back stage utility space and dressing rooms and lounge area. Cotton Bowl should formidable competition to Cowboys Stadium for the biggest events....

North Texas is no longer jostling for attention among South Central US destination, it's there and is jostling for attention among North American destinations. A whole lotta everything, that's what we need. The club made up of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco now has a new member, and the regional array needs to start acting like it.

Fort Worth is in the planning phase of redoing the downtown convention center, probably should have happened before Dickies Arena was brought online, but whatever. Certainly the Fort Worth Cultural District has had improvements and upgrades and expansions since the late 1900s, providing a powerful draft and rudder for improvements and upgrades and expansions in the Dallas Arts District... these things all fit together and improve the quality and variety of life available in North Texas.

Dos Equis Pavillion is managed by the same group that manages Toyota Music Factory and other venues in town and they just spent millions renovating it even while they were taking possession of Toyota Music Factory. It even got new green rooms and other badly needed upgrades. Since Dos Equis Pavillion has a long term contract separate from Fair Park and Spectra not much is gonna change there.