Dallas Mavericks Announce Move Out of Downtown Dallas to New Arena at Former Valley View Mall Site

The Dallas Mavericks announced on June 1, 2026 that the franchise has signed an option agreement to acquire approximately 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall site in Far North Dallas, with plans to build a basketball-only arena and a mixed-use entertainment district that will open by the end of 2031. The move ends the Mavericks' 46-year run downtown, including the past 25 years at the American Airlines Center, where the team has shared the building with the NHL's Dallas Stars since 2001. The Stars announced the following day, on June 2, 2026, that they have signed a non-binding letter of intent with the City of Plano to build their own arena at the Shops at Willow Bend site, meaning both downtown anchor tenants will leave the American Airlines Center when their leases expire on July 28, 2031.

For fans planning Mavericks travel over the next five seasons, the announcement matters now. The 2026-27 season tips off in October at the American Airlines Center, the building will host the Mavericks for five more full seasons including potential playoff runs around Cooper Flagg and the current core, and Mavericks tickets, downtown hotels, and flights into DFW will all run through the AAC through the 2030-31 season before the new arena opens. Elite Sports Tours builds Dallas Mavericks travel packages that combine Mavericks tickets, hotels near the American Airlines Center, and flights into DFW or Dallas Love Field, and that infrastructure stays in place through the team's final downtown chapter at the AAC.

What We Know About the New Mavericks Arena

The Valley View Mall site sits roughly 11 to 13 miles north of downtown, near the intersection of Interstate 635 (LBJ Freeway), the Dallas North Tollway, and Preston Road. The former mall was demolished in 2023, and most of the land is currently controlled by Beck Ventures, owned by Dallas developer Scott Beck. The Mavericks' option agreement covers approximately 104 acres, with public records reported by FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth indicating roughly $50.7 million for the Mavericks' portion. The site selection ends a multi-year search that included a downtown City Hall site (rejected partly because of timeline concerns around the July 2031 deadline) and a 259-acre Las Vegas Sands parcel in Irving controlled by Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont's family company.

The arena itself will be basketball-only, which is the key strategic shift from the shared NBA-NHL American Airlines Center model. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts, who was hired in January 2025 to lead the arena project after previously overseeing the Golden State Warriors' move to Chase Center in San Francisco, framed the project in March 2026 as "one of the biggest sports developments that's ever taken place," referencing hotels, retail, a new arena, and a new practice facility. Welts said the team needed a tract of at least 50 acres to execute the full vision, and the Valley View site is more than double that minimum. Construction is expected to take roughly 30 months, with the target opening aligned to the AAC lease expiration on July 28, 2031.

Why the Mavericks Are Leaving Downtown

The decision to leave downtown came down to three factors: the timeline, the basketball-only arena model, and the size of the entertainment district the ownership group wants to build. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert had pitched the Mavericks on keeping the team downtown at the City Hall site, but a February 2026 report from the Dallas Economic Development Corp put City Hall renovation costs at over $900 million, with 20-year operating costs that could push past $1.1 billion. People familiar with the matter told the Dallas Morning News that the Mavericks held concerns about whether the July 2031 deadline could be met at the City Hall site.

The basketball-only arena model is the bigger strategic story. The Mavericks and Stars have shared the American Airlines Center since it opened in 2001, an arrangement that gave both franchises a downtown anchor but also constrained scheduling, premium-seating revenue, and arena-day programming for either team independently. By going solo, the Mavericks join a broader NBA trend, with Welts directly citing the Golden State Warriors' Chase Center as a template. Chase Center is built around the Thrive City Plaza concept, blending premium seating, year-round retail and dining, and a 365-day-a-year revenue model that a shared arena does not allow. The ownership group, led by Patrick Dumont and the Las Vegas Sands family that purchased the franchise majority from Mark Cuban in December 2023, has positioned the Valley View project as a similar 365-day destination rather than a basketball-only building that goes dark between games.

What This Means for Fans, Tickets, and Travel

For Mavericks fans planning travel in the next five seasons, very little changes immediately. The 2026-27 NBA season opens in October 2026 at the American Airlines Center, and the team will play full home schedules at the AAC through the 2030-31 season. That means five more full regular seasons and any associated playoff runs at the current downtown venue. Mavericks tickets, hotels near the American Airlines Center, and flights into DFW International Airport (or Dallas Love Field for closer access to downtown) all continue to operate the same way they have since 2001, with the same hotel cluster and flights into DFW that fans already know. Elite Sports Tours travel packages for home games continue to bundle these three components against the AAC and the downtown Dallas hotel cluster in Victory Park, the West End, and the broader downtown core.

The bigger fan-travel story arrives once the new arena opens at Valley View in 2031. The North Dallas location sits roughly 30 minutes from downtown under normal traffic, with direct access from I-635 and the Dallas North Tollway. The hotel inventory profile shifts significantly: the downtown Victory Park hotels lose their walk-to-the-arena positioning, while the North Dallas hotel cluster along the Tollway corridor, including the Galleria Dallas area, becomes the new primary lodging zone for Mavericks travelers. For fans planning multi-year Mavericks travel, the practical takeaway is that AAC trips remain the play through the 2030-31 season, and the Valley View arena opening will be a fresh travel planning reset for the 2031-32 season and beyond.

The Bigger Picture: Downtown Without the Mavs or Stars

The Mavericks' announcement, combined with the Dallas Stars' announcement on June 2, 2026 about a Plano arena, means downtown will lose both of its major professional sports teams when the AAC leases expire in July 2031. The American Airlines Center is owned by the City of Dallas, and the future use of the building after 2031 is now an open question. The team won the building's only NBA Championship in 2011, plus Western Conference titles in 2006, 2011, and 2024, and the AAC has hosted NBA Finals games across three different seasons. The Stars have used the building since 2001 and won a Western Conference title in the 2019-20 season. Downtown business owners in the Victory Park and West End districts that built up around the AAC since 2001 are now planning for a post-2031 environment without the two NBA and NHL anchor tenants.

The broader DFW sports geography has been shifting away from the downtown core for years. The Dallas Cowboys play at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, the Texas Rangers play at Globe Life Field in Arlington, FC Dallas plays at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, and the Dallas Wings recently moved into a new arena in Arlington. The franchise heading to North Dallas and the Stars heading to Plano fit a metroplex-wide pattern of franchises moving away from the downtown core into purpose-built, mixed-use districts in suburban or near-suburban locations. For Mavericks travel specifically, the 2031 move is the next chapter in a DFW sports travel pattern that has been suburb-anchored for two decades.

Plan Your Mavericks Travel With Elite Sports Tours

For fans planning a trip during the five remaining seasons at American Airlines Center or thinking ahead to the Valley View arena opening in 2031, Elite Sports Tours coordinates the full trip in one booking. Mavericks tickets, Dallas hotels near the current arena, and flights into DFW or Dallas Love Field all combine into a single Mavericks travel package, with the ticket and hotel paired against the venue and the rest of the Dallas itinerary. Group travel for home games, road games following the team across the NBA, and playoff travel during postseason runs all run through the same package model. Browse our Dallas Mavericks Travel Packages to plan a Mavericks weekend at the American Airlines Center now, and we will update the Valley View travel infrastructure as the new arena opening approaches in 2031.

Editorial Note & Travel Expertise

This article is based on the June 1, 2026 announcement from the Dallas Mavericks and the June 2, 2026 announcement from the Dallas Stars, with details cross-referenced against the Mavericks organization, the City of Dallas, the City of Plano, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Economic Development Corp, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, ESPN, and CBS Texas. The 104-acre Valley View Mall site, the approximately $50.7 million Mavericks land purchase figure, the July 28, 2031 American Airlines Center lease expiration date, and the basketball-only arena plan are sourced from official statements and verified reporting. Statements from Mavericks CEO Rick Welts, team governor Patrick Dumont, Chief Communications Officer Gina Miller, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, and City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert are paraphrased from their original public remarks. Elite Sports Tours uses real-world experience planning Dallas Mavericks travel and broader NBA event weekends to help fans plan game-day logistics and arena transitions.

Travel Information Disclaimer

The Mavericks arena project at the Valley View Mall site is in the option-agreement stage as of June 2026 and remains subject to final purchase agreements, design approvals, permitting, and construction milestones across the next several years. The target opening date of 2031 and the July 28, 2031 American Airlines Center lease expiration are based on current public statements and may shift. The American Airlines Center will continue to host the Mavericks for the 2026-27 through 2030-31 NBA seasons, with Mavericks tickets, hotel availability in Dallas, and flights into DFW operating on the standard NBA schedule for those seasons. Travelers should confirm current schedules, ticket availability, and lodging options with Elite Sports Tours and official sources before finalizing any Mavericks travel plans.

Updated June 2026