Dallas Wings, Not the City, Will Take Lead on $81M Basketball Team Facility Project
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Construction on the Dallas Wings’ long-delayed practice facility in West Oak Cliff may finally move forward after the Dallas City Council voted 13-2 on Wednesday to shift development of the team facility from the City to the WNBA team itself.
The city had to rework the deal with the Wings following significant delays, cost overruns, and friction between city staff and the city-contracted project manager, McKissack & McKissack. The city had initially budgeted $54 million to build the new facility, but now projections put the cost at around $81 million.
Under a proposed economic development grant agreement, the Wings would have assumed the estimated $27 million in cost overruns but would receive a $653,000 delay reimbursement and a developer fee capped at $3.24 million to manage the project themselves. But the council rejected part of that proposal and approved a revised deal that would limit additional taxpayer costs by scrapping the delay reimbursement.
The resolution also requires the Wings to demonstrate their financial capacity to pay for their share of the project costs and forfeit all incentives if they fail to complete the building. All costs in excess of the $54 million plus the developer fee would still be the team’s responsibility, though.
The amended agreement was the product of negotiations between city officials and the Wings, who have been trying to navigate the fallout from the botched project, which was supposed to open its doors in May. Since a ceremonial groundbreaking last September, there hasn’t been much dirt turning at all. The facility now won’t be open until at least 2027. As part of the new agreement, the Wings agreed not to sue the city.
Council Member Chad West (District 1), chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment & Retention, thanked Greg Bibb, the team’s managing partner and CEO, for “hearing the city council and for responding positively to the city’s need for him to meet us halfway.”
“It’s important we get this done today and we get this project back on track,” he said, hailing the vote as an expression of the city’s commitment to professional women’s sports.
The new practice facility, which was supposed to be entirely built at the city’s expense, was originally destined for a site adjacent to Dallas Memorial Auditorium, where the Wings agreed to play for 15 years after being wooed away from UT Arlington’s College Park Center. FIFA World Cup priorities at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center redevelopment — of which the auditorium is a part — dashed the initial construction timelines and forced a relocation of the practice facility to Joey Georgusis Park.
Not everyone was happy with the negotiated agreement, though. Before the vote, Council Member Paul Ridley (District 14) asked staff about whether a stipulation that the Wings put their share of the costs to work before taxpayer money gets spent was dropped during negotiations.
Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley said the terms that were agreeable found their way into the amended resolution — nothing more.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12), who has been skeptical of the city having to pay for a new practice facility for the Wings, criticized the updated deal. She characterized the additional costs to the city (the developer fee) as going to “pay for the expanded scope and luxury amenities that [the Wings] want to add in.”
Staff previously said that new facility requirements were implemented by the WNBA after the original project was scoped, forcing stakeholders to update design elements.
“I never voted for this in the first place for a number of reasons, but the key one is that we were told this would be a basic practice facility — a bare minimum to do what’s required based on the WNBA — and suddenly it’s $54 million, which is outrageous for like a stadium, an actual arena, compared to a practice facility,” she said.
With the developer fee, the taxpayer cost is now around $57 million.
“I think this is an obscene amount of money at a time that we’re talking about things like closing libraries,” Mendelsohn said. “I think it’s pretty shocking that we would move forward with this.”
Some concerns were also raised about the Wings meeting their obligations, with Mendelsohn calling the league’s long-term financial viability into question. Other council members also inquired about what guarantees the city would have that the facility would actually get built.
Staff said the project’s completion would be enforced through safeguards in the developer agreement, which include performance bonds and the stipulation that the Wings would have to prove they have the capital to execute their end. If for whatever reason the building wasn’t built as agreed, the city would have recourse to recapture the money it invested in the project.
West reminded his colleagues that the city has a legal obligation to build the practice facility, but that the Wings, in turn, are obligated to stay in Dallas for 15 years or else all their incentives would get pulled back.
Despite council members getting into the weeds, several voiced excitement for the overall deal, which will finally bring the team into the city limits.
“We’re in this together, and I love having a Dallas team with a Dallas name playing in Dallas,” Council Member Gay Donnell Willis (District 13) said.
Only Ridley and Mendelsohn ended up voting against the resolution.
The vote follows several months of high-stakes negotiations and controversy over both the Mavericks and the Stars scouting for new arena sites, with no real guarantee either would decide to remain in Dallas.
Prep work for construction on the Wings practice facility is expected to start immediately, the city said in a press release following the vote.
“We strongly believe the practice facility will provide our world-class athletes with what they need and deserve to compete at the highest level while delivering real benefit to the citizens of Dallas, especially the residents of Far West Oak Cliff,” Bibb said in a statement.
“The Wings remain committed to playing a key role in the revitalization of downtown Dallas when the renovation of Dallas Memorial Auditorium is completed in 2028,” he added.
