The redevelopment plan for Toyota Stadium and the area around the home of FC Dallas got the seal of approval from the City of Frisco on Tuesday night. The third and final 6-0 vote was announced at 9pm as council members voted to amend the Hunt family’s lease, agree to an incentivized plan for development along the Dallas North Tollway, and approve the overall master plan which includes $182m of funding for the stadium itself within a $1.3b project.
“Tonight’s Frisco City Council vote is an important step in providing this community with a modern, world-class sports venue,” FC Dallas President Dan Hunt said. “I am grateful for the leadership of Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney, the Frisco Independent School District, Frisco City Council, Frisco Community Development Corporation, Frisco Economic Development Corporation and Frisco city leaders for their vision and partnership as we worked through the process to achieve this agreement. The new Toyota Stadium will set the standard for modern hospitality and will continue to be a cornerstone of the Frisco community. “All of us at FC Dallas are excited for our fans, partners and players to experience this state-of-the-art facility.”
During citizen input FC Dallas supporter Rafael Mattana implored the city and Hunt family to look toward Austin’s Q2 Stadium as an example of a fan-friendly suburban stadium that forms an entertainment district. Those wishes would have been met later in the evening as the new stadium and shouldering developments on both the south east and north west corners were unveiled.
Four office blocks will occupy space currently allocated as the red and platinum lots on the west side of Toyota Stadium. Multi-level parking lots will maintain the level of parking currently in place for FC Dallas games.
A hotel and high-rise residential units will go in the space currently occupied by Field 0 and part of the southern section of the blue lot at the corner of Main St and Frisco St. This along with the new Rollertown tap room will help link the area from the Tollway to the Rail District as a single large entertainment district. This is what the city council members referred to as the halo effect, likening it to The Star and PGA of America Headquarters developments in Frisco.
The stadium will be transformed on three sides, as the south end redevelopment was completed in late 2018. The dominating feature is a canopy covering for the north, west, and east sides in a similar fashion to what currently covers the National Soccer Hall of Fame. A 6,000 square foot video screen will hang over the north end, which is touted as the largest video screen of any soccer-specific stadium in MLS.
A raised construction of the west side of the stadium will help shade seats in the east against the evening sun. Club seating will be expanded by 175% with clubs on both the east and west sides. The number of suites will increase by 58%, both numbers that FC Dallas President Dan Hunt believes surpass any other soccer-specific stadium in the United States. Concession points-of-sale will increase by 59% and restroom facilities by 26%
The north end of Toyota Stadium was a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic as the supporters section was relocated to the south west corner. 3,400 will be added on to the capacity of Toyota Stadium with a new north end supporters section. A video released by FC Dallas lists this as a safe-standing section.
Behind the scenes, media facilities will receive a significant upgrade, along with infrastructure related to broadcasting and communications.
With the vast majority of the stadium set to undergo an invasive remodel, there will be some disruption.
Dan Hunt confirmed that the capacity of Toyota Stadium will drop to around 11,000 from 19,096 in 2025 as the east side of the stadium is expected to see work commence in January or February. When the east side is completed in the summer of 2026, supporters will be relocated from the west for the next phase of construction. The north end development will span both phases, with the stadium expected to be completed by the start of the 2028 MLS season.
The city agreed a $182m package that sees the Hunt family contribute $65m in the form of a rent increase for their extended lease, which will now run through 2057.
An incentivized plan set targets for the hotel, multi-family living space, and retail on the south east corner to be completed by the end of 2035 with the 1.2m square feet of class-A office space complete by December 31, 2038.
The results of the city council vote also prompted the release of season ticket information for the 2025 season. Memberships will start at $400 for the supporters section, or from $632 in other areas of the south and west sides.
Maybe a bit of a niche question, but that field where they’re building the hotel is currently used by a lot of soccer teams for practices. Not to mention it’s one of the few places with a net available to just go kick the ball around with buddies. Are they going to have a publicly availability field somewhere else (as opposed to keeping all the ones on the north side locked constantly) for people to use or are the neighborhood teams just kicked out?
I don’t know. but the good news is that corner won’t be done until 2035. So plenty of time to get it worked out.
They’ve been a lot more open with Dr. Pink Field the last couple of years. The stadium renderings (possibly because it’s different projects) shows the grass kept until the hotel project starts.
Dr. Pink stadium no longer appears in that drawing, but Field 2 is still there.
I don’t believe Toyota Soccer Center is being touched. The detail outside of the stadium itself is going to be just template items rather than drawing any bespoke.
Never forget that the original plans for the stadium had covers all around and hillside seating at the North end.
Hunts will promise the moon, then dont deliver.