The Plano City Council Voted On the Dallas Stars Moving to Plano

6/17/2026

On Monday, June 8, 2026 the Plano City Council voted on four agenda items having to do with the Dallas Stars Hockey team moving to Plano. Even though each item seemed to be separate, they are all related to the Stars and a huge corporate welfare windfall.
Item one on the agenda was the creation of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) Number Six. This is 800-900 acres in West Plano. The zone goes from the train tracks before Bush Turnpike, parts of Midway, Plano Pkwy, International, Park, Communications, Windhaven, and Parkwood. Since the plan is to build an arena on the Willow Bend Mall property, I would think the city would only make the mall a TIRZ; however, the city decided to include a massive area by the mall.
In the city’s own ordnance for TIRZ # 6 they say the area needs, “essential public infrastructure and economic development programs are needed to attract new business and commercial activity to the proposed zone, thereby increasing the real property tax base for all taxing units within the zone, increasing sales and use tax revenues for the City and the State of Texas, and creating
additional job opportunities for residents of the City and the region.” It goes on to say, “The area is predominantly open or undeveloped and, due to obsolete platting, deterioration of structures or site improvements, or other factors, substantially impedes the municipality’s sound growth.” None of this is true. The zone area is not undeveloped. It only has three empty pieces of land left. It has a Target, Walmart, Costco, Tom Thumb, Kroger, medical offices, upscale restaurants, fast food restaurants, small retail stores, salons, banks, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Petsmart, Audi, Porsche, and Ferrari Dealerships. It also has a mixed use development that is not that old on Parker and Dallas Pkwy. It is so crowded on the weekends for dinner it is hard to park your car. So, this is not an under developed area. It is actually over developed. According to the city’s finance plan for the zone, the appraised property values total $1,633,085,024. Yes, over 1 billion dollars. The sales tax from the zone totals $7,081,035. That is not an economic problem area. Jobs are full in that area. However, in the finance plan, one of the requirements for a TIRZ is the area must, “substantially arrests or impairs the sound growth of the municipality designating the Zone, retard the provision of housing accommodations, or constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition.” The only area in the zone that is a problem is the mall, but I would not say it was a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition.
The council appointed itself as the board of directors for the zone. Can we say conflict of interest?
The zone will last for 41 years. For the next 41 years, additional property tax and sales tax revenue will go into the TIRZ 6 fund. By the way, that is longer than the Stars agreement. According to the city’s plan, the additional property tax revenue will be $1,377,499,464 and it will all go into the TIRZ 6 fund. The additional sales tax revenue will be $245,598,628. Again, the city will get none of it. It will all go in the fund.
What will all this money pay for? The bond for the new sports center/arena for the Stars of course. The City will pay $700 million in bond money to build it. The Stars, who are worth over $2 billion, will put in $300 million. Administrative costs to the city will be $499,945, and they must be paid before the debt. According to the city’s own plan, the interest on the debt is unknown.
At the city council meeting, only one resident actually spoke against the TIRZ #6 and the corporate welfare scam that it is. The other speakers on this item just did not want the Stars in the Willow Bend location. The City Council members did not comment on the TIRZ #6. Council Horn only commented on the Mall needing redevelopment.
Item 2 on the agenda was a grant for $15 million to the current owners of the property. In-exchange the owners will demolish the inline space of the mall, the community theater, Dillard’s, and the Crayola Factory. They will also do site preparation work for the redevelopment. The owners also have to build a shell space of no less than 6,500 square feet for the City’s Visitors Center. The city will get this space rent free for ten years. The city will also waive all building, inspection, planning and engineering fees. Lastly, the Contractor can’t pass on all sales taxes they paid for the equipment and materials to the property owner. Only one resident spoke against the grant. The Council did not comment on it.
Item 3 is the Letter of Intent for the Stars. It clearly states the city will own the arena site and the arena itself. The Stars get a 30 year lease agreement for it. After that time the Stars can pick up and leave like they did to Dallas. The Stars get to keep all the money from the use and operation of the arena. They will also be responsible for the operations, maintenance and routine repairs. Large capital expenses may be on the taxpayers’ dime.
The City will collect $3.00 per car for parking at the arena. The city says it will work in good faith with Transit Providers to expand bus routes and shuttles. However, these providers could tell the city to go pound sand. Clearly the City has not thought about this at all. The arena where the Stars are now holds around 20,000 people. If we assume two people per car, that would be about 10,000 cars on game day.
The agreement with the city and the Stars will get reevaluated in 15 years to see what upgrades are needed to be paid for.
The letter of intent lists nine additional agreements. These include a development agreement, a design and construction agreement, lease agreement, non relocation agreement, team sub-lease agreement, community benefits agreement, intellectual property rights agreement, construction trust agreement, and guarantee agreements. No details on them were given. Again, residents spoke against having the Stars in West Plano. The council members asked some question to staff, but did not respond to the residents’ concerns.
The last item is a Resolution to fund and build the arena. This is subject to a vote of the residents of Plano on November 3, 2026. Most of the funding will come from a bond that will be paid back by the TIRZ 6 fund. The rest will come from an increase in hotel/motel taxes to 15%. So, if you have people coming in for a visit, their hotel bill may be going up. The car rental tax may be going up too. If your car is in the shop and you need a rental, that bill may also be going up. There will be a 10% tax rate on event tickets and a facility use tax of $5,000 per game on each member of a major league team that plays at the arena. This resolution must also be submitted to the Texas Comptroller for approval.
Plano’s Political Pit Bull put a 50 year study on the results of city owned sports stadiums on our website. We also talked about it in two podcast episodes. The study Fields of Failure was clear, and it is not the only study out there. All of these studies came to the same conclusion; in the long term, the cities always lose. They lose economically and financially. The only winner is the team.
Everyone thinks it will be great for the city. It will bring business and tourism, but it does not. On game or event days business in the area goes down. Why? Because the people who shop at stores like Home Depot or Michael's avoid the area on event days. Those that come in for an event don’t stop in at Petsmart or other retail stores. People go to the event, maybe stop at a restaurant or bar in the area, and then they go home. So while business may be great in the Willow Bend, it will tank outside of it.
On top of that, crime, drunk driving, and traffic will all go up during event days as well. Yet, even with all the studies and hard economic evidence that this arena will be a loss for the city, our council passed each agenda item to build one with debt that the taxpayers will have to pay back. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Clearly, the Plano City Council is insane.
This is Esther for Plano’s Political Pit Bull Signing Off.
The City will be having two Open House Meetings in July to hear from the residents and answer questions at the Willow Bend. Attendees should use the entrance by Equinox and Crate & Barrel.
July 8, 2026 11am - 1pm
July 14, 2026 6-8 pm
For more information go to the web-page https://www.plano.gov/2435/Willow-Bend-District
A Self-Guided Virtual Community Open House will be available for those unable to attend in person events:

July 8 – July 22 at https://www.plano.gov/2435/Willow-Bend-District Below are links to studies and articles on the subject of government paid for stadiums.