Sports fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and across Texas had much to celebrate last year, with the Texas Rangers making their first-ever World Series and FC Dallas competing in its first-ever Major League Soccer Cup. The results were bittersweet in the end, but the national exposure brought its own rewards, serving as a fitting prelude to next month’s Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington—the first to be played in North Texas, and certain to be a triumph for the entire region.
"A funny thing happened on the way to the Super Bowl—the World Series!" says Jay Burress, president and CEO of the Arlington CVB. "It was a great experience for all of us to have a ‘dry-run’ for the Super Bowl."
The big game is also a showcase opportunity for the Metroplex to flex its event and hospitality muscles, starting right in Arlington.
"We sit among an array of big attractions and venues that can host meetings and events," Burress says. "What other city can offer a Super Bowl stadium for team building, a ballpark that just hosted the World Series and a Six Flags theme park within a one-mile radius?"
It’s a theme that fans out across Dallas, Fort Worth and the other cities of the Metroplex, with events, attractions and activities for game attendees and non-ticket holders alike. This is a special moment for the entire North Texas region, but with exciting developments on the horizon and a Texas-size menu of options for groups, the Metroplex is a big player year-round—with winning results for all.
Double Coverage
Dallas will be a major Super Bowl focal point, with the NFL Experience fan extravaganza at the Dallas Convention Center and the media center at the 1,840-room Dallas Sheraton, fresh off its $90 million facelift. Visitors will also discover that Dallas, amid a multiyear, $14 billion development cycle, is a city in visible transformation.
Now completed, the 40-story arch of star architect Santiago Calatrava’s Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge has given the Dallas skyline a bold new signature. It is the centerpiece of the Trinity River Corridor Project, destined to be more than 10 times the size of New York’s Central Park when completed by 2015.
Dallas also gets its long-awaited headquarters hotel with the January 2012 opening of the 1,000-room Omni Dallas Hotel.
Other renaissance projects include continuing expansion of Dallas Rapid Area Transit (DART) service, scheduled to bring mass transit to DFW International Airport for the first time by 2013, and the modernization of Dallas Love Field, slated for completion by 2014.
"Meeting planners are noticing a new Dallas, and we remind them that the city reinvents itself about every five years," says Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas CVB. "Our citywide bookings have increased dramatically, and due to our central location, direct flights, moderate costs, strong reputation as a business center and mild year-round weather, Dallas is attracting corporate relocations, major sports events and conventions of all sizes."
As host city for the AFC champions, Fort Worth is readying for an unprecedented breakout moment.
"The Super Bowl is an excellent opportunity to showcase Fort Worth and all of North Texas to potential visitors and meeting planners around the world," says David DuBois, president and CEO of the Fort Worth CVB. "As host city for the AFC and Taste of the NFL, and headquarters for ESPN’s broadcast center during Super Bowl week, Fort Worth’s vibrant downtown, authentic Western heritage and world-class cultural offerings will be there for millions of people to see. We are ready to welcome fans and visitors from around the world to the City of Cowboys and Culture."
From all appearances, the Super Bowl will only accelerate Fort Worth’s rise to prominence.
"Fort Worth continues to be one of the premier meeting destinations in the nation," DuBois says. "According to Smith Travel Research, over the past three years, Fort Worth’s downtown hotels have seen an increase in total room night demand of 62 percent. Translating into more than 250,000 additional guests in downtown Fort Worth during that time period, these numbers show the continued strength of Fort Worth’s $1.3 billion hospitality industry."
Home Field Advantages
The NFC champions will be based in Irving, with accommodations at the luxurious Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas. Located adjacent to DFW International Airport, Irving itself is a champion of accessibility and convenience, boasting more than 75 hotels with some 11,000 rooms. Currently in a $2 billion hotel, retail, entertainment, office, residential and meeting facility development cycle, Irving is scheduled to open the doors this month on the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, a striking new $133 million, 275,000-square-foot venue that stands to change the way meeting planners look at convention center space.
"We’re setting a new standard," says Maura Gast, executive director for the Irving CVB. "The new center creates an environment made for business."
The high-end, multifunctional center includes a 50,000-square-foot, column-free exhibit hall, a 20,000-square-foot ballroom and 20,000 square feet of breakout meeting space, accommodating groups of 800 to 4,000. Future development on the 40-acre site will include a performance venue, headquarters hotel and entertainment complex.
"This isn’t the quintessential ‘box with docks,’" Gast says. "The center has character and quality more akin to a high-caliber conference facility than to a convention center."
By late 2011, DART Orange Line service will connect downtown Dallas to the center, and by 2013 it will link the center to DFW International Airport.
Seating more than 90,000 fans, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington is the largest venue to host a Super Bowl since the Rose Bowl in 1993. With 14 approaches from major highways, it is also one of the most accessible venues ever planned—which directly benefits the Arlington Entertainment District, where visitors can enjoy an expanding list of options.
1010 Collins is a new entertainment and event center located directly across from Cowboys Stadium and offering over 16,000 square feet of interior space and over an acre of outdoor garden space.
Scheduled for completion this month, the renovation of Arlington Music Hall includes an expanded stage and 3,000 square feet of event space.
In late 2011, UT-Arlington’s new $78 million College Park Center will open. A catalyst for revitalization in the city’s central business district, the 218,000-square-foot center will give the university a true "home court" for sports and Arlington a signature facility for concerts, conferences and events.
Special Teams
Historic Grapevine is another Metroplex community participating in the Super Bowl. The NFL has booked the entire 1,511-room Gaylord Texan hotel, while the city’s Embassy Suites Outdoor World is hosting the "Best Party in Texas" the night before the game. Offering 800,000 square feet of meeting space and over 11,000 rooms in 19 hotel properties just minutes from DFW International Airport, Grapevine’s opportunities for planners, conventioneers and leisure travelers continue to expand.
"Grapevine’s central location and proximity to the airport provide efficiencies to the meeting planner, both in terms of travel time and savings in ground transportation," says Paul McCallum, executive director of the Grapevine CVB. "All best in their flags, our hotels are specifically built for convention and meetings business and can host meetings from 50 to 5,000."
Grapevine has continued to grow new retail, restaurants and attractions even during the downturn. Anchoring the southern entrance to the Grapevine Historic District, the new CVB headquarters and museum complex is slated to open in spring 2011.
Located 20 minutes north of downtown Dallas and 25 minutes from both DFW International Airport and Love Field, fast-growing Frisco is a Texas-size playground offering four professional sports teams, shopping, concerts, events and a wide variety of award-winning hotels. Frisco’s Stonebriar Country Club is scheduled to host the annual NFL Charities Super Bowl Celebrity Golf Classic the day before the big game.
"The quality of our hotels and off-site venues is a pleasant surprise to meeting planners," says Marla Roe, executive director of the Destination Marketing Association International-accredited Frisco CVB. "With two Four Diamond hotels, the second-largest ballroom in Texas, four sports teams and convenient access to two DFW-area airports, Frisco is really making a name for itself in the meetings market."
Home to attractions including the Frisco Discovery Center, Texas Sculpture Garden and a splendid public art collection, Frisco continues to develop appealing venues for residents, tourists and delegates alike, such as the new home of the Museum of the American Railroad, formerly located in Dallas and scheduled to open this summer. The CVB is also making life easier for planners.
"We are rolling out our new FRISCO is At Your Service convention services packet citywide, as well as developing an online password protected Planners Toolbox, which will allow planners 24-hour access to information they need readily available," Roe says.
Just east of Dallas, Mesquite beckons with Old West heritage, the performing arts and shopping.
"Mesquite’s appeal for small to midsize groups continues to improve and expand," says Judy Skowron, director of the Mesquite CVB, citing recently completed improvements to the Mesquite Convention Center and Exhibit Hall and adjoining Hampton Inn & Suites. "We have also added a simplified single contract for events utilizing both the center and hall, streamlining the process and providing a turn-key meeting solution for groups."
Home of the renowned Mesquite Championship Rodeo, Resistol Arena continues to expand its year-round entertainment programming, with its new private club open to groups on a "space available" basis. Now in its third year, Mesquite’s long-term Project Renewal revitalization plan has measurably enhanced citywide access, with ongoing investment in highway improvements and aesthetic upgrades. This in turn is spurring significant economic development, including 3000 Skyline Drive, projected to be one of the country’s five most powerful data centers, and several new medical building construction and expansion projects.
Plano, located about 30 minutes northeast of Dallas, is the ninth-largest city in Texas and among its most recognized. Its ranking by Forbes in 2010 as "America’s Safest City" is the latest in a series of quality-of-life honors. Conveniently served by DART light rail, this affluent "All-American" city mixes Fortune 500 business with pleasures including its renowned annual Balloon Festival, meetings-capable Southfork Ranch of TV’s Dallas fame, charming historic district and cultural venues including ArtCentre of Plano and the historic Courtyard Theater. Known as the "Star in Texas," Plano’s beautifully landscaped Plano Centre and award-winning Marriott Dallas/Plano at Legacy Town Center exemplify the city’s modern meetings appeal.
Regular Meetings Focus South contributor Jeff Heilman is going for the "four-peat" when he rings up his fourth consecutive Meetings Focus Texas supplement later this year.
