Dallas Mavericks, Stars playoff runs mean big business for city

Deep playoff runs for the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks, especially games that coincide with the holiday weekend, have meant big business for the teams and local businesses near the their home arena.

This month marks the first time the American Airlines Center has hosted NBA and NHL conference finals at the same time. The city’s NBA and NHL teams are each one series away from their respective championship series.

“Every week has been record sales,” said Elias Pope, owner of Hero by HG, a bar and restaurant next to the American Airlines Center. “We’re hoping for that trend to continue and hopefully, with both of them all the way to the championship. It’s been great.”

Typically Hero will do around $1,500 to $5,000 in business on days when there aren’t events at the American Airlines Center, Pope said. Sales pick up to at least $100,000 during an event. Both teams in the playoffs have meant consecutive nights of events at the arena.

The activity impacts businesses around the city with watch parties on game nights regardless of whether the teams are playing at the arena, Pope said. Hero, for example, hosted the Dallas Mavericks official watch party for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves while the game was played in Minneapolis.

“It’s been a wild ride where you go from feast to famine and then back to feast on different days,” he said.

Wednesday kicked off five consecutive days of events at the American Airline Center starting with a concert featuring singer Melanie Martinez, the Stars hosting the Edmonton Oilers for the first game of their series on Thursday, another concert featuring singer Diljit Dosanjh on Friday, game 2 for the Stars and Oilers on Saturday, and the third game between the Mavericks and Timberwolves on Sunday.

The Mavericks play another game at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday and watch parties are planned on the arena’s plaza for games 3 and 4 of the Stars and Oilers series on Monday and Wednesday.

According to the arena’s calendar, the American Airlines Center is hosting 21 events this month in and outside the facility. If neither team made the playoffs, the arena would be hosting six events, all concerts.

Martinez’s concert was rescheduled from its original Friday date due to the playoff games. Other shows with acts such as Bad Bunny and Nicki Minaj, which were planned for earlier this month at the American Airlines Center, also had to be rescheduled because of Mavericks games.

“It’s not just the 16,000 to 20,000 people inside the arena, you’re also driving people to other areas across the street and in the area and it helps everybody,” said Rich Hicks, owner of nearby Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer.

The restaurant opened last August after the NBA and NHL seasons were over. But Black Tap sees roughly a 20% to 30% increase in business on game nights.

Dave Brown, chief operating officer and general manager at the American Airlines Center, said Thursday he didn’t yet have numbers on the economic impact the increase in arena events sparked by the playoff runs have had, “but I have no doubt that it’s been an economic driver.”

“We just have our heads down hosting games and concerts night after night and we’ll add up all the economic benefits once we have the championships behind us,” Brown said. “But we’re busy every night. It’s unprecedented for us. It’s unprecedented for the city.”

The playoff games also mean more out-of-town visitors staying in area hotels and other attractions around the city, said Craig Davis, president and CEO of Visit Dallas. It essentially provides “free publicity for the city,” he said.

“It also gives a lot of awareness of Dallas as a sports city. We say it, but this adds credibility,” Davis said. “There’s a wild factor associated with having two teams in the city of Dallas being this successful at the same time.”

The American Airlines Center has six events on the calendar for June, including a Megan Thee Stallion concert. But that number could rise if both the Mavericks and Stars series go seven games or at least one of them advances to the next round.

“It’s a very unique experience that I think we all have to pinch ourselves to know how lucky we are to be in a city like this that’s got high quality sports right now,” said Brad Alberts, president and chief executive officer of the Dallas Stars.

Each playoff round means higher ticket prices and higher demand, he said. The team’s success has been great for business.

“For us to make it to the conference finals now two years in a row, it’s given the Stars the two best financial years in our history,” Alberts said. “We hope it doesn’t stop here.”

An increased footfall around Victory Park also meant the public transit system needed to ramp up their services.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit is running special commuter trains to transport riders from Fort Worth to the American Airlines Center. Bus riders can connect to the light rail and commuter rail trains to get to the stadium through the red line from Parker, blue line from Rowlett and green line from North Carrollton, Lee said. The transit system’s police are also going to increase their presence on the system, she said.

During Thursday night’s Stars game that went into double overtime, DART positioned three trains at the games and had them wait until the games were over so riders still had a public transit option to get home, said Berard Jackson, DART’s senior executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Many of the DART’s workers will be donning Stars and Mavericks gear. Train and bus stations are also abuzz with signs that say “Go Mavs and Go Stars”.

“DART is excited to be able to support the Mavs and Stars throughout the playoffs and on the way to their Championship series,” DART CEO Nadine Lee said.