City of Dallas officials are “poised to approve a 15-year deal designed to bring the WNBA's Dallas Wings to the downtown convention center arena," according to Chhetri & Bailey of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a "resident use and incentive agreement for the Dallas Memorial Auditorium." The auditorium is “planned to be renovated by 2026 as part of a larger redevelopment project.” According to the city’s draft resolution, the proposed agreement would include $19M in "city incentives paid to the team over three years." The city expects to "offset the costs by at least” $1.5M in annual revenues over the next 15 years, and the agreement "could be extended for up to an additional 15 years." The Wings play in College Park Center on the Univ. of Texas at Arlington campus. College Park Center seats about 7,000 while the Dallas Memorial Auditorium has a capacity of nearly 10,000 seats. The Wings “drew about 4,600 fans on average” during the team’s regular-season home games last season. The proposal to bring the Wings to downtown Dallas includes “year-round use of the building for training and office space” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/20).
