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The American Airlines Center is an arena located in the Victory neighborhood of Uptown Dallas, Texas that is used for hockey games, basketball games and concerts.

Seating Capacity: Hockey: 18,000, Basketball: 19,200
Opened: July 17, 2001
Owner: The City of Dallas
Construction cost: $420 million USD
Architects: David M. Schwarz/Architectural Services, Inc., HKS, Inc., Johnson/McKibben Architects, Inc.
Location: 2500 Victory Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75201

By 1998, the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars were indicating their desire for a new facility to replace obsolete Reunion Arena. Dallas taxpayers approved a new hotel tax and rental car tax to pay for a new facility to cover a portion of the funding, with the two teams, the Mavericks and the Stars picking up the remaining costs, including cost overruns. The new arena was to be built just north of Woodall Rodgers Freeway near Interstate 35 on the site of an old power plant.

In March of 1999, American Airlines announced that it would be acquiring the naming rights for the new facility.

On July 27, 2001, the facility opened with the largest ribbon-cutting ceremony ever, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The first event occurred the next day with an Eagles concert. On the next night, the arena hosted the last show of Michael Flatley’s Feet of Flames tour. The first sporting event took place on August 1 with the Dallas Sidekicks of the World Indoor Soccer League taking on the San Diego Sockers. The WWE also held their annual Survivor Series event at the arena in 2003, and regularly hosts events at the arena (generally 1-2 each year).

The American Airlines Center is meant to be the heart of a new urban, commercial area designed to reinvigorate the city of Dallas called Victory Park. The facility itself features a conservative, traditional design with sweeping brick façades and smooth arches, and has been graced with a number of awards. The interior includes retractable seating, public art and a state-of-the-art technological arena. Because of the appearance of its roof and the fact that American Airlines holds the naming rights some fans have come to refer to it as “The Hangar.” Others just call it the AAC.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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