The American
Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose arena, located in the Victory Park
neighborhood, near downtown Dallas, Texas. The venue serves as the home to the
Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, and the Dallas Stars
of the National Hockey League. The arena is also used for concerts and other
live entertainment. It opened in 2001 at a cost of $420 million.
By 1998, the
Dallas Mavericks, then owned by H. Ross Perot, Jr., and the Dallas Stars were
indicating their desire for a new facility to replace the dated Reunion Arena.
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 Freeway
near Interstate 35E 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$195 million.
American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth and is based at
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
On July 27,
2001, the facility opened with the largest ribbon-cutting ceremony ever,
according to the Guinness Book of Records. The first event occurred the next
day with an Eagles concert. 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
taking on the San Diego Sockers.
