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The Mavericks and Stars have shared American Airlines Center since 2001, but when their current leases both expire in 2031, the teams will go separate ways.
The Mavericks, under the ownership of the Adelson family since 2023, are planning their own arena and casino project, with team CEO and Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Welts steering the effort. Their plans don’t include the Stars.
The Stars’ 21-person ownership advisory group met on Wednesday night and zeroed in on Plano as one of the likeliest destinations, Front Office Sports has learned.
The team is eyeing a purchase of land in Plano, but has not signed anything yet. It operates a youth hockey facility there, and has a practice facility in Frisco. Arlington is also in the mix, and has appeal as it’s already home to an MLB and NFL team. Each of those cities is roughly 20 miles from the team’s current home.
Team ownership also hasn’t ruled out staying in Dallas, either in the American Airlines Center or in a new arena. Stars owner Tom Gaglardi has been on record that the growing Dallas Metroplex, now the No. 4 U.S. media market and a hotbed of change in sports media, can support two arenas, saying last spring that he was “pretty confident” that two such venues would thrive there.
“I don’t deny we are in discussions with Plano,” team president and CEO Brad Alberts told FOS when reached by phone Friday. “Have we decided on where our future is? No. We’ve gotta decide, are we staying or are we going to build somewhere. Certainly Plano is part of that, but we haven’t decided. We are going through due diligence to make sure that if we are going to leave, we have the right spot.”
Alberts said he is a believer in the need for real estate around a team’s stadium, and cited The Battery Atlanta as an example. “We are looking for acreage where we can develop what I call 365-degree revenue.”
In May, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman touched on the Stars-Mavericks dynamic, saying, “It’s clear, including the most recent comments by the Mavericks’ CEO, that they want to go build a new arena for themselves. OK. They’re entitled to do that. It doesn’t affect the Stars… They’ll either do something with this building, or build their own.” (The NHL did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.)
More than four months later, sources inside Wednesday’s advisory group meeting indicate that Plano is in the lead.
As the arena situation escalates, the Stars remain one of the NHL’s most consistently competitive teams on the ice. The team has reached the playoffs six of the last seven seasons, including the Western Conference finals each of the past three years.
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