When a professional sports team unveils a new stadium, the fans’ reactions typically include awe and excitement — but the opposite was the case earlier this week when the Dallas Stars released renderings of their new arena.
Following a legal dispute over upgrades to American Airlines Center, which hosts both the NHL’s Stars and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, the Stars decided to build their own building elsewhere.
Here’s why many fans are so upset.
It’s too far away
If you’re a Stars fan in Plano, Texas, your commute to games will become half an hour easier in 2031, when the new arena is scheduled to open. Those who live elsewhere, on the other hand, will need to put more effort into getting to games.
American Airlines Center is central to the entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Plano is further northeast, making the trek much more time consuming for anyone located in the Fort Worth, Arlington or Irving areas.
A number of fans expressed their displeasure in the comments of the Stars’ post on X.
“Who else can never attend a Stars game again?” asked one fan, who added in a reply that the move would add 45 minutes each way to the commute.
“So glad the wealthiest in town won’t have to put many miles on their BMW’s to get there,” someone else joked.
Another fan cautioned the team to ensure there would be adequate public transportation to and from the arena, as “No one wants to fight (Dallas/Fort Worth) rush hour traffic to the game and then stadium traffic on the way home when you have work the next day.”
Déjà vu
A move like this has happened in the NHL before — and it didn’t end well for the team or the local fans.
The Phoenix Coyotes moved from downtown Phoenix to Glendale, Arizona, in 2003. America West Arena was a basketball arena, and a hockey rink didn’t fit inside it without drastically decreasing fan capacity.
It added roughly the same commute time for some fans as the Stars’ planned move will, and many in Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa lost interest in hockey altogether.
The saga ended with the team moving to Salt Lake City — and it all stemmed from the inability to establish the right arena in the right location.
Pushback over AI
The Stars contracted HNTB, an architectural firm, to design the new arena. The renderings the firm produced were largely, if not completely, generated by artificial intelligence.
Especially when it comes to creative outlets like graphic design, many people have become completely opposed to the use of AI. In the case of the Stars’ arena renderings, those fans made their displeasure known.
The top four comments on the post, which combine for more than 6,000 likes, draw attention to its use of AI, including cropped screenshots of areas in the photos where the AI messed up.
For example, the big, glowing Stars’ logo on the roof of the building has an extra vertex. In another photo, a man is wearing a jersey with the logo on the back rather than the front, and a woman has a different jersey number on her sleeve than the one on her back.
Public funding
According to CBS, the Plano city council voted to hold a referendum in November, allowing the locals to approve or deny a tax package to generate $700 million for the $3 billion project.
The taxes would include:
- A short-term hotel occupancy tax, up to 2%, resulting in a maximum combined hotel occupancy tax rate of 15%
- A short-term motor vehicle rental tax, up to 5%
- An event parking tax of up to $3 per vehicle
- An admissions tax of up to 10% of the ticket price
- A venue facility use tax of up to $5,000 per game on each member of a major league team that plays a professional sports game at the venue
Some fans voiced particular displeasure in the comments of the rendering post.
“We hate it,” said one fan. “Congrats on stealing $700 million in public money though, I’m so glad our billionaire owner is getting all this money he totally needs from the public.”
