For the past two years, the Dallas Wings have been looking forward to moving out of Arlington and into new facilities in downtown Dallas.
However, the Wings will still be practicing and playing games in UT Arlington’s 7,000-seat arena, College Park Center, when the 2026 season kicks off.
In April of 2024, the city council approved a 15-year use agreement for the team to play in Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas Memorial Arena. The deal included the construction of a new practice facility, and the franchise had planned for 2025 to be its last season on the college campus.
The downtown arena was first to be delayed last spring, with the building now set to host the International Broadcast Center for this summer’s FIFA World Cup. Still, the franchise went ahead, hoping to have a new practice facility ready by this April, holding a groundbreaking ceremony at the Oak Cliff location in September 2025.
“I want to say as we go into the next phase, we want you to hold us accountable,” city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said then. “And my commitment is that we will deliver this practice facility for you by the spring of 2026.”
Asked then if he had any doubts on the timeline, Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb referred back to the initial 2024 agreement and Tolbert’s words, saying the team planned to be in the building in April.
That won’t come to pass either, with Bibb confirming to The Dallas Morning News in January that the facility construction hasn’t started and is now projected for 2027.
The Wings’ downtown move was emphasized throughout 2025 as the team expected to rise both on the court and off it. Dallas welcomed No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers last year, a second-team All-WNBA selection and Rookie of the Year in her first season.
The team still finished in last place with a 10-34 record, and looks toward a key offseason to help improve. They have the top pick again for the 2026 draft, and a wide-open free agency period may also help. Neither of those things will happen until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is reached, but the Wings planned on having a new facility to help lure talent when the time comes.
Instead, they’ll remain at College Park Center, sharing it with UT Arlington. In August, graduation ceremonies at the university left only one of the building’s three courts available for practice. A scheduling conflict with the men’s college basketball team that same day moved the practice time back.
Then-head coach Chris Koclanes called the situation “pandemonium,” and looked ahead to the move to a new facility.
“We’re grateful for the moment, but excited to get our own space, which these players deserve, and we won’t run into issues like this in the future,” he said.
College Park Center is the third-smallest arena in the WNBA by capacity, only larger than Washington’s CareFirst Arena (4,200) and Atlanta’s Gateway Center Arena (3,500).
The Wings’ eventual move won’t launch it up that list, either. Current plans include a capacity of 8,400 for basketball games, a figure that still only surpasses Washington and Atlanta. The Toronto Tempo, joining the WNBA in 2026, will play in an arena with a capacity of approximately 8,500.
In the meantime, Dallas has taken opportunities to play in larger venues. The team moved both 2025 home games against the Indiana Fever to the American Airlines Center, competing in front of crowds of 20,409 and 17,857.
On the current 2026 schedule, the Wings are set to play three games at the American Airlines Center — against the Fever, Chicago Sky and Golden State Valkyries.