Dallas wants to shift responsibility for Wings’ new practice facility to the WNBA team

Dallas wants to put its WNBA team on the hook for building their own practice facility after the city botchedi promises of a new home and training center this year in exchange for leaving Arlington.

But when, or if, that will happen remains unclear. The City Council on Wednesday delayed a vote on the revised deal, citing unanswered questions about why the planned Oak Cliff practice facility is now $27 million over budget and delayed by a year. Instead council members will continue discussing the agreement in committee, which could happen as soon as next month.

“It looks terrible for us, it’s causing problems for the team,” said council member Cara Mendelsohn while also questioning who from the city will be held responsible for the delays and rising project costs. “And really, it’s just another notch in the belt of another failed real estate project that we have not delivered on time or on budget.”

Under the proposed agreement, the city’s total contribution would be capped at $57 million: $54 million in economic development grants, $3.2 million in developer fees, and $653,000 in delay reimbursements. In exchange for the reimbursement, the Wings would agree not to sue the city for the delays.

The team would then act as the developer, covering the at least $27 million needed to complete the 70,000-square-foot facility at Joey Georgusis Park.

The revised deal would also reduce the city’s contract with project management firm McKissack and McKissack by $1.8 million, removing the practice facility from its plate. But the firm would still oversee the delayed renovation of the Dallas Memorial Auditorium, which the city promised would be ready for the Wings to call home this spring.

“I honestly don’t know why we wouldn’t look at eliminating versus reducing,” said council member Gay Donnell Willis, the council’s deputy mayor pro tem. “I don’t know why we’d make a change and not make a whole change in this situation.”

The latest setback is another broken promise to the Wings, who agreed to relocate from Arlington to downtown Dallas in 2024. Under the original deal, the team was supposed to move into a refurbished Dallas Memorial Auditorium by the start of the 2026 season this May as part of a 15-year, $19 million use agreement.

The practice facility, which had a ceremonial groundbreaking with city and team officials last September, was also supposed to open before the 2026 WNBA season. Ongoing league labor negotiations threaten to delay the start of the season.

Now both projects are delayed: the practice facility until April 2027 and the arena until April 2028. The Wings will continue playing home games at University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center until at least 2027.

The new Dallas training facility is planned to include two basketball courts, locker rooms, a weight room, a kitchen and community event space. The city also plans to build four soccer fields and trails nearby.

Rosa Fleming, director of Dallas Convention and Event Services, on Wednesday blamed the issues on mismanagement by McKissack and McKissack, city staff not waiving red flags about problems sooner and evolving WNBA facility standards that exceeded the original project’s scope. She argued the project would move faster if the Wings took on oversight.

“We were not satisfied with the project manager’s work on this particular project,” Fleming said. “And so there has been a change in their senior leadership that has occurred.”

Wings CEO Greg Bibb told The Dallas Morning News in January he was “disappointed” in the delays but still believed in the city’s leadership. He cited the city’s successful bid to host the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup International Broadcast Center at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center as the reason for scrapping initial plans to build the training facility near the revamped arena.

The proposal will next be discussed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention. Committee chair Chad West said he hopes council members will personally question representatives from the design and construction firm during that meeting.

Council member Adam Bazaldua suggested the city explore cheaper alternatives, such as offering the current home of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars to the WNBA team. The men’s basketball and hockey franchises are seeking new homes after their lease ends.

“It seems we’re going to have an empty American Airlines Center in 2031, and how that hasn’t been brought into the conversation is beyond me,” Bazaldua said. “Instead of continuing to up the ante at ‘Bank of Dallas,’ I would like for us to explore the assets we already have that we know are going to be obsolete soon.”