The Dallas Wings will be moving to a larger home arena in the city’s downtown region, the team announced on Monday.
Beginning next season, the Wings will play their home games at American Airlines Arena, where the Dallas Mavericks also play. The team will also move to a new practice facility located downtown. Since relocating to Dallas from Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2016, the Wings have played and practiced at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
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The team expects to move into its new permanent home at Memorial Auditorium for the 2028 WNBA season. Delays in renovations to that venue necessitated playing home games at American Airlines Arena. However, the Wings’ new practice facility will be permanent.
“We’re the Dallas Wings, at the end of the day. We’re not the Arlington Wings,” guard Arike Ogunbowale said to the Dallas Morning News’ Myah Taylor. “Being actually in the city, in the culture, that’s going to be really good.”
Moving to the larger arena will increase seating capacity significantly for the Wings, who feature the WNBA’s past No. 1 overall draft selections in Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. Ogunbowale is a four-time All-Star and 2020 league scoring leader, while Jessica Shepard is having a breakout performance in her sixth WNBA season.
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Currently 19-11, the Wings are a playoff contender, tied with the Indiana Fever for the fourth-best record in the WNBA after finishing 10-25 last year.
The Wings played two games at American Airlines Arena last season and once this year, with two more scheduled. Those will be an Aug. 7 matchup with the Golden State Valkyries and an Aug. 20 clash versus the Fever.
College Park Center seats roughly 7,000 for basketball games, while American Airlines Arena can accommodate more than 19,000 fans. When Memorial Auditorium is ready for Wings home games, capacity is expected to be for more than 9,000 seats.
“We’re excited to be taking steps to fulfill what the vision was several years ago,” said Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb to The Dallas Morning News.
