TCU will play first basketball game at Dickies Arena. Will it become an annual event?
It’s always nice to be the first.
TCU basketball gets the honor of playing in the first basketball game at Dickies Arena, Fort Worth’s $540 million arena. The Horned Frogs (6-1) will face USC of the Pac-12 at 8 p.m. on Friday.
TCU already had a sneak peek of the venue when it practiced on the new floor last month. The Horned Frogs returned to Dickies for Thursday’s practice and will also go through a shoot-around at the venue a few hours before Friday’s game.
“The facility is great,” TCU senior guard Desmond Bane said. “We’ve got a good Pac-12 team coming in here, so we’re all excited for it for sure. We’re anxious to get over there.”
Plenty of tickets are available for the game. Prices start at $26 on Ticketmaster.
Dickies will host its second basketball game at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Texas and Texas A&M square off in what’s being dubbed as the “Lone Star Showdown.” Tickets start at $25.
These are just the first of many big-time college basketball games coming to town.
The American Athletic Conference will play its men’s basketball tournament in the arena through 2022. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament will play first- and second-round games in 2022.
As far as TCU is concerned, it hopes to land more marquee non-conference matchups that would make sense to play at Dickies Arena. TCU played USC at Staples Center in Los Angeles last season.
The Horned Frogs have no future games under contract at Dickies Arena, and they are under no contractual obligation to play games at the venue on a yearly basis, although they aren’t opposed to it.
“We are looking at a number of future matchups in the non-conference portion of our schedule that make sense,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said.
It does not make sense for TCU to give up home Big 12 games to play at Dickies Arena. The university continues to try and boost the home-court advantage of Schollmaier Arena, and losing those games would impede that progress.
Plus, Dickies Arena would have a limited number of dates during the Big 12 season as its main tenant is the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
Asked about playing at Dickies Arena, TCU coach Jamie Dixon said: “It’s an added storyline as far as the event and playing at Dickies and this brand new arena that’s unbelievable and a great thing for Fort Worth. And a great thing for TCU to be a part of it.
“It’s an honor to be in a facility that nice right down the street from us and to be playing in the first game. We’ve worked with them in a lot of ways in trying to get even the next game [Texas vs. Texas A&M], the other game to get some basketball events in there. It’s been a fun process. Definitely an important process for getting great events in there, including basketball.”
Along with basketball and rodeo events, Dickies Arena will also host the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships from 2020-2022.
More sporting events could come to town as well, whether it’s boxing matches or hockey games.
As Visit Fort Worth CEO Bob Jameson told the Star-Telegram earlier this year, “We’re having conversations now about sports opportunities we never would have been able to engage in before. That’s because of Dickies Arena.”
