Dallas Stars: Ideas to Improve Fan Experience at the AAC

The Dallas Stars have been playing at the American Airlines Center since the 2001-02 season following eight seasons at Reunion Arena. It’s a fun place to watch games, but there is definitely room for improvement for fans.

There are things that the Dallas Stars get right when it comes to making the atmosphere enjoyable for fans.

Discussion of the atmosphere at the AAC should begin with the trio of Michael Gruber, Jeff K, and Celena Rae. They, along with Jason Danby and the rest of the production team, put on a great show for the fans. The music choices are always spot on and the video board is often featured on Twitter and Reddit for the abundance of pop culture references and running jokes.

Another thing the Stars get right is player involvement. This isn’t something unique to the Stars, but it’s something a surprising number of other teams are missing out on. Fans form emotional attachments to the players themselves, so putting pre-recorded bits up on the video board or on social media is a great way to foster that connection to the players.

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While the production team and the in-game hosts are the epitome of everything the Dallas Stars are doing right on game days, let’s take a look at a few places they can improve things.

Pre-Game Festivities

Before games, the Stars host a party in Victory Plaza. On the weekends, this includes live bands. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not the draw that it could be for fans.

Supporting local music is always a plus, but the games for the kids tend to get stale for people who come out a few times a year or for season ticket holders. The bands rotate but the activities themselves don’t really rotate. There’s also nothing that isn’t particularly directed at kids, though adults are allowed to participate.

Bringing in food might draw people away from the restaurants, but it could encourage more people to hang out and listen to the bands. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy. It could just be a food truck or two, or even just some vendors at food carts. Sell some street tacos and elote before the game to really embrace the location.

Embrace the Culture

Speaking of embracing the location, the Stars should do more of that. Sure, they play the Pee-Wee Herman bit and they have a cheerleading squad in addition to their Ice Girls (which I will eventually write an entire article about). Beyond that, there’s not much they do to embrace the city or the state.

In Nashville, there are live country acts playing during the intermission. In Vegas, they created an over-the-top spectacle that fits right in with the Strip. They’re taking what makes their city special and turning it into an essential part of the experience.

Dallas is a special beast, because it’s not exactly “Texas” like a lot of other areas. The Stars don’t need to host a rodeo during the intermission or drape every available surface in Texas flags. Pandering too much to a stereotyped idea of the fan base can backfire, so they need to be careful with what they do and to what extent, but they could certainly do more in this regard.

Activities on the Concourse

Last year, the Stars improved on this with the reunion night signings for their 25th anniversary, but they don’t generally have much happening on the concourse. Usually, it’s just filled with people trying to get fans to sign up for a “raffle” with the occasional Victor E. Green sighting. Every once in a blue moon, they might do mystery pucks, and they sometimes have Ice Girls out selling calendars, but that’s about it.

Some interactive things for people to do wouldn’t hurt. For example, some arenas have been doing a VR hockey experience where kids can put on goggles and use controllers to become a player. They could bring some compact activities and games inside as something fun for them.

There are teams around the league that have miniature museums in their arenas with memorabilia and pieces of history. The trophies are on display in one corner, but if the Stars could find space to make a walk-through museum, it would really make for a fun addition. Perhaps this could go into one of the lounges on the third floor or could even be split up on the walls in a few different places without taking away any pre-existing spaces. Sharing with the Mavericks would have to be considered, but there’s no reason they couldn’t make it a shared museum and put up memorabilia and milestones from both teams.

Next: Dallas Stars Sign Dillon Heatherington to One-Year Extension

The Dallas Stars don’t have a bad fan experience by any means, but they could elevate it with a little work. What would you like to see change or be added? What do you think is perfect just how it is?

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