A battle between two professional men’s soccer teams for a stake in Dallas’ sporting future ended with the City Council unanimously approving a contract that gives Atlético Dallas, a new USL team, the keys to Fair Park’s Cotton Bowl stadium and MoneyGram Soccer Complex for the next three years.
The vote didn’t bode well for FC Dallas, which has been operating MoneyGram, a 19-field soccer complex in northwest Dallas, for the past 11 years. The deal between the USL team and the city triggers FC Dallas’ contract with a six-month notice.
“I have a strong belief that there’s a large part of our community that wants a professional men’s soccer team back in the heart of the city, a team that they can call their own,” said Matt Valentine, founder and chairman of Atlético Dallas. “I know this because I am one of them.”
The city’s position boiled down to having a tenant in two of its properties, fashioning a deal that removes utility payments from the city’s list of responsibilities and generating additional revenue. The city offered to buy $1 million worth of tickets for 20 games at Fair Park as an incentive per year. In return, the team will pay a usage fee of $12,500 per game, which will be allocated to the 277-acre asset.
It was the management of MoneyGram Soccer Complex, a potential training ground for the FIFA World Cup, that became the bone of contention.
FC Dallas officials said they were caught off guard after The Dallas Morning News first reported the city was vying to attract the USL team, especially as they still had four years left on their contract.
Behind the scenes, the Frisco-based franchise and park officials were involved in a back-and-forth negotiation to tweak a contract, bolstering the city’s ability to earn additional guaranteed revenue and removing provisions that would have left the city with the bills to maintain the property.
The back and forth continued as late as Tuesday night, hours before the vote on Wednesday. Dan Hunt, FC Dallas’ chairman, arrived with his team from the franchise and emphasized his family’s commitment to the sport, which dates back to 1967. His father, Lamar Hunt, founded the Dallas Tornado, the hometown soccer team at the time.
FC Dallas began its journey as the Dallas Burn and played its games at the Cotton Bowl stadium before moving to Frisco. Hunt said the team’s homecoming came in 2013, when the soccer team won the bid to operate MoneyGram soccer park.
Built over a former landfill, the complex has undergone significant growth since its inception.
Words sharpened when parks and FC Dallas officials offered rebuttals about claims surrounding the losses the city had experienced while contracting with the Major League Soccer team.
FC Dallas officials argued they had presented the city with a better deal, one that gives the city 25% of the proceeds from their income back to the city or pays an annual lease of $100,000, whichever is the greater amount. Atlético’s deal, on the other hand, only gives 15% back.
Council member Paul Ridley asked John Jenkins, the park director, what he thought of FC Dallas’ proposal, which appeared to have better incentives for the city. Jenkins said the department had begun negotiating the contract with the team in November and wanted to remove the utility payments from the city’s roster because the city cannot control the magnitude of the use. They had asked once again and received a denial over email, he said.
“Now, because you know there’s another offer on the table,” Jenkins said. “Then you want to come to me with a counteroffer when you should have done the right thing the first time I asked you.”
“If you were such a good partner for 11 years — what you didn’t think of was that this city, this council, this park board, my staff, have found another valuable option because you thought we didn’t have one,” he said.
Since last year, amid potential budget cuts and delayed maintenance, park officials have been grappling with weak contracts with various entities that operate city properties across the board. Whether it is community pools, boating facilities at White Rock Lake or the future of the city’s 277-acre asset in Fair Park, there has been a push to determine how to generate sufficient revenue to help sustain their operations and upkeep.
“This is a full circle moment for the city of Dallas, and it should be seen as that,” Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua said, while wearing an Atlético scarf. “We also are looking at rectifying longstanding sweetheart deals — these sweetheart deals that, quite frankly, on the backs of the taxpayers are helping people who are generating a lot of profit for themselves.”
The deal with Atlético also gives the city the option to use five soccer fields for youth programs, increasing access to park facilities for low-income families, Jenkins said.
Following the vote, Hunt said he was disappointed with the outcome and pushed back against the notion that FC Dallas’ agreement with the city favored the soccer team. All the proceeds and the money, he said, were reinvested in the park.
“There’s no sweetheart deal,” Hunt said. “I wish I could say it was a big money-maker for FC Dallas. This is a labor of love, and I think I spoke to it today. Soccer is a labor of love for me and my brother.”
Still, he said he was excited for Atlético to come to Dallas.
“I think it’s gonna be great for the Cotton Bowl,” he said.
Hunt and other officials raised concerns about the lack of a bidding process to attract the best deal. Although state law doesn’t require licensing agreements to go through a formal bidding process, the aftershocks of a weak contract in Fair Park have drawn scrutiny to every deal.
Arun Agarwal, the Park Board’s president, threw his weight behind Jenkins’ defense of the contract when reached by phone after the vote.
“I’m grateful to my staff’s work of evaluating [contracts] and turning them into wins for the city,” he said, adding that weak contracts have been a pain point he inherited when he took over. He said he has wanted to see the department and board change the way they do business. “The Park Board believes in (park officials),” he said.
Clarification: The city offered a $1 million worth of tickets for 20 games at Fair Park as an incentive per year.