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The Stars’ $3 billion arena and mixed-use development project in Plano, Texas, isn’t just about the NHL team getting its own facility, but a bet on the future trends across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
The Plano City Council last week approved a non-binding letter of intent with the Stars that contemplates the sports-centered project at the Shops at Willow Bend mall site. That governmental step allows for continued negotiation toward long-form agreements between the team and local officials, and codifies a plan first reported by Front Office Sports last fall.
“We’re basically engaged now and we’re working on the final steps to get married,” Stars president and CEO Brad Alberts tells FOS about the team’s relationship with Plano. “And we certainly have no intention of walking away.”
That deal with Plano calls for $700 million in public funding toward a $1 billion arena, with the additional development around it projected to cost another $2 billion.
A Changing Metroplex
As those talks happen, the Stars’ arena plan will accelerate an outward migration by most of the region’s pro sports teams away from downtown Dallas. That’s not by coincidence, as the Metroplex continues to add population, has become the No. 4 U.S. media market, and is growing far beyond the urban core.
It’s a somewhat similar approach to what the Braves did in Atlanta more than a decade ago, in which the MLB club struck a deal to leave downtown Atlanta and move to a suburban location near Marietta, Georgia. There, the Braves relocated to the heart of their fan base within the broader region, and then became an industry trailblazer with the creation of The Battery mixed-use development.
“This is definitely similar to what the Braves did,” Alberts said. “We’re getting closer on the heat map to where our fans are. Just as important, though, is that by 2040, we see Plano as really the center of the Metroplex. The development trends that we already see going in that direction are just massive.”
The Stars are intending to break ground in 2028 and open the new arena in Plano in 2031, allowing the team to get in front of that broader projection.
The NBA’s Mavericks, currently sharing American Airlines Center with the Stars, have a somewhat similar notion as they are also headed north from downtown Dallas, though not quite as far. Their planned arena and mixed-use development is still within the city limits, but it is about 13 miles from the current facility.
“We aren’t focused on what other teams are doing. We are concerned about us and how we execute our vision the best way we can for our fans, our team, and our community,” Alberts said. “This is a very unique, very special opportunity we have in front of us, and we have to get it right.”
In the meantime, the team is not only looking at other NHL teams for potential design ideas but also elsewhere in sports. Recent research has included a tour of the new Highmark Stadium, the forthcoming home of the NFL’s Bills opening this fall.
The WNBA’s Wings, looking to get into a renovated Memorial Auditorium in Dallas in 2028, are the notable outlier to that outward trend among the area’s major sports teams. That wave also includes the NFL’s Cowboys and MLB’s Rangers continuing to operate in Arlington with their own enlarged interests in real estate.
The Stars, meanwhile, are among the beneficiaries of a fast-growing NHL that included league-record revenue and attendance during the 2025–26 season.
