Come this fall, the American Airlines Center will look very different.
This summer, the 22-year-old arena will be undergoing a huge makeover, with the center-hung scoreboard and all seats being replaced.
The seats have been in place ever since the arena opened back in 2001, and that has made maintaining them difficult as of late.
"We couldn't replace the seat parts anymore," says Dave Brown, general manager of the American Airlines Center. "In fact, we're going to eBay to find parts. That can be a little stressful."
Some of the seats in the 300 level have already been replaced with seats manufactured by Maine-based Hussey Seating, and the rest will be replaced this summer.
Brown says the seats in all bowls will be cushioned, and they will be much easier to clean and sanitize.
"Stadium and arena seating is much more advanced now," says Brown. "So we're taking advantage of that opportunity to provide our guests with a chair that is going to be specifically made for our environment and much more comfortable throughout their visit."
Fans will be much more comfortable in the new seats as they gaze at the new massive center-hung scoreboard.
"It will be about 40, 50% larger than our current board," says Brown, "but it's a totally different reconfiguration."
The scoreboard will measure about 44' long by 31' wide by 26 feet tall, with the sideline and endline screens being slightly curved outward.
"It's going to be one continuous screen, 360 degrees," Brown says. "So there are not going to be any seams or gaps or fragmentation of the screens themselves, like there are now."
That will allow the Mavericks and the Stars to put up some very dynamic displays.
"The main skin of the scoreboard is going to be one huge continuous canvas that we can be very creative with and create a lot of cool features and provide fantastic replays to our guests," says Brown.
For fans with a little more disposable income than the average folk, they will no longer have to strain their necks to see the new display.
"We have new screens that are being nested underneath the main scoreboard that are specifically angled and designed to give great sight lines to those courtside (and) rinkside guests," Brown says.
These changes follow the replacement last summer of the roof, which had leaked during the NBA's Western Conference Finals, causing a delay in the game.
In all, the price tag of the makeover is about $18.5 million, which the Mavericks and Stars are evenly dividing between them.
Hopefully, the changes will also include a Stanley Cup championship banner for the Dallas Stars.
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