NHL's Dallas Stars plan move to suburbs in 5 years, with NBA's Mavs also leaving downtown then

PLANO, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Stars are planning to move north, out of downtown and to the suburb of Plano in five years after the lease is up at the NHL team's current home arena.

Stars officials announced Tuesday the signing of a nonbinding letter of intent to build a new hockey-specific arena and entertainment district about 20 miles north of the downtown American Airlines Center, which they have shared with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks since it opened in 2001.

The leases at the AAC for both teams expire in 2031. The two franchises have been in a legal dispute about their partnership agreement and management of the building.

The Stars made their intentions known a day after the Mavericks said they have a preliminary agreement on a site for their own new arena about 10 miles north of downtown, but still within the Dallas city limits. The NBA's team deal is for 104 acres on the former site of Valley View Mall, which was demolished three years ago.

A new arena for the Stars is expected to be part of a large-scale redevelopment project at The Shops at Willow Bend, where the last enclosed mall built in Texas is set for demolition.

The Stars submitted their letter of intent to the city of Plano, which placed it on the City Council agenda for consideration at its next meeting Monday. The letter includes plans for the mixed-used project as well as design and construction of the arena.

“This project would present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our franchise,” Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said in a statement. “We eagerly await the vote by the Plano City Council and look forward to continuing the conversation to be part of the redevelopment of The Shops at Willow Bend.”

That mall on about 90 acres opened in 2001, and there are open restaurants and parking garages in the area. The new arena would anchor the redevelopment that could include sports, entertainment, retail, dining and public gathering spaces.

The NHL franchise was known as the North Stars before moving south from Minnesota and beginning play in Dallas for the 1993-94 season. The Stars in 1999 became the first of hockey's Sun Belt teams to win a Stanley Cup title.

The Stars won that championship while still playing at Reunion Arena, a building they also shared with the Mavericks after first moving to Dallas. The site of that downtown arena, which was fully demolished in 2009, is about a mile from the AAC.

The NFL's Cowboys were in Dallas during the franchise's first 11 seasons at the city's Cotton Bowl (1960-70), but moved to Texas Stadium in Irving in 1971, the season of their first Super Bowl title. They have played since 2009 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, which is halfway between the downtown areas of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Arlington is also home to the MLB's Texas Rangers, the franchise that began as the Washington Senators in 1961. The Rangers are in their third stadium in Arlington since moving there in 1972. Globe Life Field, their retractable-roof stadium adjacent to AT&T Stadium, opened in 2020.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

FILE - American Airlines Center is lit up prior to Game 5 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series between the Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild, April 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - Dallas Stars Stanley Cup playoff banners are displayed outside of American Airlines Center before a first-round NHL hockey playoff against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson, File)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A man barricaded himself inside a bank building in the Southern California city of Bakersfield with an unknown number of people, police said Tuesday.

Officers responding to a call of a bomb threat arrived at the scene around 1 p.m. at the Chase Bank building in downtown Bakersfield, and discovered a man had barricaded himself inside “with several community members,” the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.

Some community members were able to escape, officials say. No injuries were reported and nearby buildings were placed on lockdown, including city hall and the police headquarters.

The department's crisis negotiation team was in contact with the suspect by telephone.

Officers established a perimeter around the building and nearby businesses, authorities said.

“We are on scene at the Chase Bank Building on Chester Avenue and 17th Street for a confirmed bomb threat,” the police department posted on X. “Please stay out of the downtown area. Road closures are in effect and will remain in effect until further notice.”

About a dozen police cars were on scene along with one tactical vehicle and multiple emergency responders, according to media reports.

Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family’s tattoo shop when he started getting calls from his subscribers alerting him to the bomb threat.

“I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said. “Now I’m watching them set up the trauma tents with the green, red and yellow tags, and black tags too, along with a command center about a block away.”

Law enforcement agencies often protectively set up trauma tents — which are color-coded to help sort people based on the severity of injuries — just in case they become needed during an emergency situation.

Police officers respond after a man barricaded himself inside a bank on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Bakersfield, Calif. (Jacob, Dad’s Gone Live via AP)