The arts and cultural district of Fort Worth got an impressive new neighbor in 2019 with the opening of Dickies Arena, 14,000-seat multipurpose American arena, located within adjacent to the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The nearby Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum – now in its ninth decade of service to the community –continues to serve as a major equestrian venue and an excellent complement to the new arena.
The venue hosted a public ribbon cutting on October 26, 2019. The first event held was a Twenty One Pilots concert on November 8, 2019.
Decades in the making, the citizens of Fort Worth overwhelmingly voted in favor of a new multipurpose arena for the community in 2014. Dickies Arena is an exciting, state-of-the-art venue for events of all kinds, including concerts, sports, community events and the Fort Worth Stock Show rodeo performances.
The facility is the result of a pioneering public-private partnership between the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, the State of Texas and a group of private-sector participants, including foundations, individuals and organizations. The arena was designed by the 2015 Driehaus Prize winner David M. Schwarz.
Despite opening just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dickies Arena remains an eager host to sport and concert events. Dickies Arena will host first and second-round games during the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. In addition, American Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling, Disney On Ice and the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships, all in March and April of this year. Concerts are filling the schedule starting summer of 2021 and the National Lacrosse League announced it would be expanding to Fort Worth for the 2021–22 season, playing its home games at Dickies Arena. Like many, these events will be at a lower capacity to encourage social distancing, but there are many upcoming national events that will put Dickies Arena and the City of Fort Worth on the national stage.
Dickies Arena is owned by the City of Fort Worth and managed by the not-for-profit operating entity, Trail Drive Management Corp.
Fun Fact:
Dickies Arena has the second-largest, continuous 360-degree screen in North America. The scoreboard is so large, it extends past the width of the basketball court. The board measures 105 feet across and 26 feet tall.
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