The
American Airlines Center (sometimes referred to as the AAC (pronounced "A-A-C," "double A−C,"), is a multi-purpose
arenaAn arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
located in the
Victory ParkVictory Park is a master planned development northwest of downtown Dallas, Texas and north of Spur 366 . It is along Interstate 35E, part of the Stemmons Corridor and Uptown....
neighborhood near
downtownDowntown Dallas is the main business district in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The area officially termed "downtown" is bounded by the downtown freeway loop: bounded on the east by I-345 Downtown Dallas is the main business district in Dallas, Texas USA, located...
DallasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
. It is home to the
Dallas StarsThe Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded in 1967 as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The franchise transferred to...
of the
National Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league as a joint venture for its self perpetuating membership of 30 franchised member clubs located in the United States and Canada...
and the
Dallas MavericksThe Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas, USA. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association ....
of the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
. The arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment.
By 1998, the Dallas Mavericks, then owned by
H. Ross Perot, Jr.Henry Ross Perot, Jr. is a real estate developer and Chairman of the Board of Perot Systems. The only son of Ross Perot, Perot has aggressively expanded the family fortunes, primarily through real estate...
, and the Dallas Stars were indicating their desire for a new facility to replace the dated
Reunion ArenaReunion Arena was an indoor arena in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas . The arena held 17,300 for basketball and 17,000 for ice hockey. It is currently being demolished, and the site is scheduled to be cleared by the end of September 2009. -History:Reunion Arena was completed in...
.
The
American Airlines Center (sometimes referred to as the AAC (pronounced "A-A-C," "double A−C,"), is a multi-purpose
arenaAn arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
located in the
Victory ParkVictory Park is a master planned development northwest of downtown Dallas, Texas and north of Spur 366 . It is along Interstate 35E, part of the Stemmons Corridor and Uptown....
neighborhood near
downtownDowntown Dallas is the main business district in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The area officially termed "downtown" is bounded by the downtown freeway loop: bounded on the east by I-345 Downtown Dallas is the main business district in Dallas, Texas USA, located...
DallasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
. It is home to the
Dallas StarsThe Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded in 1967 as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The franchise transferred to...
of the
National Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league as a joint venture for its self perpetuating membership of 30 franchised member clubs located in the United States and Canada...
and the
Dallas MavericksThe Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas, USA. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association ....
of the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
. The arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment.
History & Construction
By 1998, the Dallas Mavericks, then owned by
H. Ross Perot, Jr.Henry Ross Perot, Jr. is a real estate developer and Chairman of the Board of Perot Systems. The only son of Ross Perot, Perot has aggressively expanded the family fortunes, primarily through real estate...
, and the Dallas Stars were indicating their desire for a new facility to replace the dated
Reunion ArenaReunion Arena was an indoor arena in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas . The arena held 17,300 for basketball and 17,000 for ice hockey. It is currently being demolished, and the site is scheduled to be cleared by the end of September 2009. -History:Reunion Arena was completed in...
. Dallas taxpayers approved a new hotel tax and rental car tax to pay for a new facility 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 FreewaySpur 366, also named Woodall Rodgers Freeway, is a highway that connects Interstate 35E to Interstate 345 in central Dallas, Texas...
near
Interstate 35EInterstate 35E , an Interstate Highway, is the eastern half of Interstate 35 where it splits to serve different cities in Texas. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E at Hillsboro. I-35E runs north for , maintaining I-35's sequence of exit numbers...
on the site of an old power plant.
On March 18, 1999,
American Airlines
announced that it would be acquiring the naming rights for the arena for
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
195 million. American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth and is based at
DFWDFW may refer to* Department of Fish and Wildlife** Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources** Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife** Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife...
Airport.
On July 27, 2001, the facility opened with the largest
ribbon cutting ceremonyA ribbon cutting ceremony is a public ceremony conducted to inaugurate the opening to the general public of a new building or business.Often, the ceremony is conducted in just the manner the name suggests: by tying a ceremonial ribbon across the main entrance of the building, which is then cut in a...
ever, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The first event occurred the next day with an
EaglesEagles is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. The group chose the name Eagles as a nod to The Byrds...
concert. On the next night, the arena hosted the last show of
Michael Flatley'sMichael Ryan Flatley is an Irish American tap dancer, writer, flautist, choreographer and occasional television presenter who became internationally known through his theatre musicals, Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames. He shot to fame during the interval of the Eurovision Song...
Feet of FlamesMichael Flatley's Feet of Flames is an Irish dance show directed by Michael Flatley and scored by Ronan Hardiman.-Feet of Flames:Hyde Park:Feet of Flames was created in 1998 by dancer Michael Flatley, made famous by the musical Riverdance...
tour. The first sporting event took place on August 19, 2001 with the
Dallas SidekicksThe Dallas Sidekicks were one of the longest operating professional soccer teams, either indoor or outdoor, in the United States, based in Dallas, Texas, and operating from 1984 until suspending operations following the 2004 season. The team was founded as a member of the original Major Indoor...
of the
World Indoor Soccer LeagueThe World Indoor Soccer League was an 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 a new indoor league to be called the Premier Soccer Alliance. The teams...
taking on the
San Diego SockersThe San Diego Sockers were one of the most successful indoor soccer teams in the sport's short history. The team won ten championships in both the original Major Indoor Soccer League and the North American Soccer League....
.
Design
Principal design work was carried out by David M. Schwarz Architectural Services of Washington D.C. The American Airlines Center was designed to be the heart of a new urban, commercial area designed to reinvigorate the city of Dallas called
Victory ParkVictory Park is a master planned development northwest of downtown Dallas, Texas and north of Spur 366 . It is along Interstate 35E, part of the Stemmons Corridor and Uptown....
. The facility itself features a conservative, traditional design with sweeping brick façades and smooth arches, and has been graced with a number of awards (below). The interior includes retractable seating, public art and a state-of-the-art technological arena. Because of the
Quonset hutA Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanised steel having a semicircular cross section. The design was based on the Nissen hut developed by the British during World War I...
-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."
On the south side of the arena
AT&TAT&T Inc. is the largest provider of local, long distance telephone services in the United States, and also serves digital subscriber line Internet access. AT&T is the second largest provider of wireless service in the United States, with over 77 million wireless customers, and more than 150...
Plaza serves as the principal entrance into the facility, designed by artist
Athena TachaAthena Tacha , is best known in the fields of environmental public sculpture and conceptual art, but has also worked extensively in photography, film and artists’ books.- Early life, education, and academic career :...
in 2000. The plaza provides an open space with fountains flanked by retail and office buildings. With several
high-definition videoHigh-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1280×720 pixels or 1920×1080 pixels...
screen mounted on the side of the arena and office buildings, the plaza is often used for outdoor events and movie showings.
Awards
American Airlines Center - Awards 2001-Present
- American Builders and Contractors North Texas Excellence in Construction Award of Merit, 2007 - American Airlines Center Platinum Club Renovation
- Readers Pick, Best Sports Venue, 2007 -Dallas Observer
- Concert Venue of the Year, 2006 - Pollstar Magazine
- Slam Dunk Award, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 - Harlem Globetrotters
- Top Dog Venue of the Year, 2003 - Tour Guide Magazine
- "Voice of the Fan" Program, 2002 & 2003 - Top ranking facility in most customer services and design related categories
- Best Sports Venue, 2002 & 2003 - Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas area with a circulation just over 100,000. At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover...
- Facility of Merit, 2002 - Athletic Business
- QUOIN Award, 2002 - Associated General Contractors of America/Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter
- Engineering Excellence Award, 2002 - American Council of Engineering Companies
- Real Estate Deals Award, 2002 - Dallas Business Journal
- Project of the Year Award, 2002 - Masonry Construction
- Record for Longest Ribbon and Largest Ribbon Cutting, 2001 - Gunniess Book of World Records
- Best New Major Concert Venue for 2001 - Pollstar Magazine
- Phoenix Award, 2001 - United States EPA
- Golden Trowel Award of Excellence, 2001 - United Masonry Contractors Association
- International Excellence in Masonry Award, 2001 - Masonry Contractors Association of America
- Mega Project Over $100 Million, 2001 - Associated Builders and Contractors
- Best of 2001 Judges Award, 2001 - F.W. Dodge
- Outstanding Project Team of the Year, 2001 - American Subcontractor Association
- Outstanding Project Over $25 Million, 2001 - American Subcontractor Association
- Minority Business Development Agency Outstanding Corporate Award for its M/WBE achievements, 2000 & 2001
- City of Dallas Senior Affairs Commission and Friends of Senior Affairs has recognized Center Operating Co. with the 2003 Employer of the Year award, which was presented at MayFair 2003, the City's Fourteenth Annual event for Older Americans Month
Other notes
- Hosted the 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game
The 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in Dallas, Texas on January 24, 2007. The Western Conference was victorious, defeating the Eastern Conference 12–9...
on January 24, 2007.
- The American Airlines Center as well as the American Airlines Arena in Miami
Miami is a major coastal city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. With an estimated population of 424,662 in 2007, Miami is the largest city within the Miami metropolitan area, which is the...
, FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
hosted the 2006 NBA FinalsThe 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005-06 National Basketball Association season. The Miami Heat won the championship in 6 games over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the final game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and becoming the third team to win a championship after...
, in which the Dallas MavericksThe Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas, USA. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association ....
played the Miami HeatThe Miami Heat are a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . They play their home games at American Airlines Arena...
. Because of this, the series was nicknamed by some as the American Airlines series.
- 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.
- Regular host for WWE live events in the DFW area. Previous events have included WWE Survivor Series 2003
Survivor Series was the seventeenth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment...
, WWE Night of ChampionsNight of Champions was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on June 29, 2008 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. It was the second annual event under the Night of Champions name and the eight annual event under the...
, a taping of WWE Saturday Night's Main EventSaturday Night's Main Event is a professional wrestling television program that aired occasionally from 1985 to 1992, under the World Wrestling Federation banner on NBC in place of Saturday Night Live. It returned to the air on March 18 2006, in an 8 EST time slot...
, and various episodes of WWE RawWWE Raw is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States. The show's name, which is sometimes stylized as RAW, is also used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform...
, WWE Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi.
- After the Dallas Desperados
The Dallas Desperados are a professional Arena Football team in the Southern Division of the Arena Football League. They are coached by Will McClay....
played their first season in the American Airlines Center, they moved to nearby Reunion ArenaReunion Arena was an indoor arena in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas . The arena held 17,300 for basketball and 17,000 for ice hockey. It is currently being demolished, and the site is scheduled to be cleared by the end of September 2009. -History:Reunion Arena was completed in...
and played there for their second season. For their third season, they moved back to the American Airlines Center where they have played since.
- The Center hosted the Big 12 Basketball Tournament
The Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament is the championship men's basketball tournament in the Big 12 Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament of four rounds, with the top four seeds getting byes in the first round...
in 2003-Bracket:...
, 2004-Regular Season/Seedings:*Baylor removed itself from postseason play, including the conference tournament, before the 2003-04 season . Because of this, Texas Tech got a bye in the first round of the tournament.-Bracket:-See also:*Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament*Big 12 Conference...
, and 2006-Regular Season/Seeding:-Bracket:-See also:*Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament*Big 12 Conference...
.
- The American Airlines Center was pictured in Season 20, Episode 8 of the Simpsons as "Dallas Arena," with the city skyline behind it, and a board in front saying that the Mavericks were playing the "Springfield Celtics," earlier referred to as the "Austin Celtics," using the logo of the Boston Celtics.
- The PBR has hosted a Built Ford Tough Series
The Built Ford Tough Series is the "major league" tour of the PBR competitions. It is a 30-city event series culminating in the PBR World Finals every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The top 45 riders of the PBR compete in the BFTS with the rankings determined by points and money won...
bull ridingBull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a large bull and attempting to stay mounted for at least 8 seconds while the animal attempts to buck off the rider. The rider tightly fastens one hand to the bull with a long braided rope...
event at the American Airlines Center annually since 2005.
- UFC 103
UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 19, 2009 in Dallas at the American Airlines Center...
was held at the building on September 19th, 2009.
- Britney Spears has performed three times at the American Airlines Center to sold out crowds.
External links