More Dallas Stars news hit the wires this week as the team is reportedly searching for a new place to call home. The Mavericks are looking to move out of the American Airlines Center, leaving their roommates to solo the venue. The Stars’ lease expires in 2031, leaving the possibility of a new entertainment district in 2032. Fans are voicing their displeasure over the reported new locations of a Stars arena. Plano and Arlington are two cities in the rumor mill where the negatives outweigh the positives, especially in transportation. More discussions and planning are bound to happen as the Stars begin their season this week.

American Airlines Center

The Stars and Mavericks moved into the American Airlines Center after its construction in 2001. The arena still holds up as a great multi-purpose venue after hosting thousands of games and events. Public transportation is a big issue when it comes to fans attending games. The Trinity Railway Express and Dallas Area Rapid Transit offer many stops throughout the surrounding areas, allowing fans relatively easy access to the arena. Dallas-Fort Worth is a massive metropolitan area with fans scattered dozens of miles in every direction with a significant population density. The American Airlines Center is relatively easy to reach via personal or public transportation. That changes with their rumored list of cities

Plano

Driving around Dallas is a vicious nightmare of a hellscape from which there is no escape. Many fans exit the American Airlines Center via 35 East on their way home. Stars fans are not just from Dallas. Many reside in cities like Denton, Fort Worth, Mid-Cities, and Arlington, to name a few. DFW is not small by a long shot, and a trek across the sprawling Metroplex can take an hour or two, depending on traffic. Plano is a rumored city on the Stars’ list, a city that is not centrally located. It will take you 1 hour and 52 minutes one way with the current light rail transit schedule from Fort Worth to Irving. That is switching between three trains with the TRE, the DART Orange, and Red lines. Another city is on the list of options.

Arlington

Arlington sounds like a good city with a central location, if you’ve never driven in Arlington. The Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys are neighbors there, so the Stars can join in on the party. The Stars are also looking into adding an entertainment district similar to the Texas Live! complex. Adding another professional sports team in that general area of the Entertainment district is not a good idea. There is no public transportation to the area as Arlington doesn’t have a light rail station. Significant numbers of Stars fans use trains to attend games. The only reasonable transportation to that area is via personal vehicles, adding to another nightmare.

An Arlington perfect storm is when you have Six Flags Over Texas open, a Cowboys game, and a Rangers game. You are lucky to arrive home before Christmas during that time period. Many parking lots are adjacent to two or three lane roads getting to the freeway. Six Flags will also see a major uptick in attendance as they are building a new 309-foot-tall Dive Coaster, drawing in even larger crowds to see this world-record-breaking attraction. Driving in Arlington, especially Collins St., is about as fun as a nail being driven into your ear. Think about driving home alongside 18,000+ fans when most of the Arlington roads around that area are only three lanes wide. Now add 90,000 Cowboys and 40,000 Rangers fans into the mix. Enjoy your next three birthdays on Collins St.

The American Airlines Center is fine for Stars hockey. It will continue as a prime arena for the next 10-20 years. Only 8 of the 32 NHL teams have newer arenas. Any new arena needs public transportation, as many fans prefer not to deal with traffic. DFW doesn’t need another $1 billion project that taxpayers foot a percentage of the bill for. Continuous upgrades of the AAC will keep the Stars comfortable for many years to come.

Photo Credit: Blackout Dallas

Tags: american airlines center Dallas dallas stars jamie benn Jason Robertson Mikko Rantanen nhl Roope Hintz tyler seguin

Categorized: Stars