#6 Arlington, Texas
▶ RÉSUMÉ: College football’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Monster Energy AMA Supercross (each annually since 2010); and Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship (since 2017). Other recent events: 2018 NFL Draft; National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship (2021-26); WrestleMania 38; Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship (2022-24); 2023 Leaders Meet: People Development conference; 2023 and 2024 SMITE World Championship (esports); and 2023 Women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals.
▶ RECENT WINS: This year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game; 2024 Copa América; 2026 FIFA World Cup (nine matches, including a semifinal); and 2030 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four.
Not everything in Texas is bigger. Arlington, with less than 100 square miles, is home to seven professional teams, each of which plays within fewer than 3 miles of each other. Centrally located between Dallas and Fort Worth, the city’s busiest venues — AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field — sit next to two uniquely renovated facilities. Choctaw Stadium, the Texas Rangers’ home from 1994 through 2019, was retrofitted and is now home of the Major League Rugby Dallas Jackals, MLS Next Pro North Texas SC, the UFL Arlington Renegades, Six Flags Entertainment’s world headquarters and the fan festival during this summer’s MLB All-Star Weekend. Nearby is the 100,000-squarefoot Esports Stadium Arlington & Expo Center. It was the city’s original convention center and was renovated in 2018. Just minutes from that core is the 7,000-seat College Park Center on the University of Texas at Arlington campus, home to the school’s basketball and volleyball teams and the Dallas Wings.
▶ FORWARD PROGRESS: The 888room Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center opened last month, with 216,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space connected by a skybridge to the existing 200-room Live by Loews hotel. The project is Phase 2 of a $4 billion public-private partnership between Arlington, Loews Hotels, the Rangers and the Cordish Companies.
▶ STAY AND PLAY: The Texas Live entertainment district is home to a dozen bars between Globe Life Field and AT&T Stadium, including the country’s largest Professional Bull Riders venue (with a capacity of more than 1,500).