You Can Watch Game 6 Inside the American Airlines Center. Just Not Outside the AAC.

By Robert Wilonsky Sun., Jun. 12 2011 at 10:23 AM

Categories: Events, Media, Sports

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The vibe, inside and outside the AAC, during Game 2 of the NBA Finals on June 2

Happened to be down in Victory Park for ~~drinks~~a meeting during Game 2 of The Finals. Got there well before tip-off, and a small line was already beginning to snake around the American Airlines Center; folks were also starting to congregate in the plaza. By the time we left midway through the second quarter, the illuminated concrete slab beneath the giant TV sets was comfortably crowded -- not rowdy, but awful proud and plenty loud. And as you're no doubt well aware the arena, its concession lines deep and concourse traffic-jammed, was stacked to the rafters with the MFFL.

Tonight the AAC will be playoffs-packed, the $5-to-get-in-for-charity Game 6 watch party having sold out in under an hour Friday morning; ducats are going for $60 on eBay, a little cheaper (but not by much) on Craigslist. But the Victory Plaza teevee sets will be turned off, say Dallas Police, who will be heavy-staffing the plaza (SWAT!) and advise that if you don't have a ticket, plan on watching the game elsewhere. Dale Hansen's awful unhappy about the decision. Me, I have to work, if that's what you call it.

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Dallas Pathetic??? So did they ever finish putting out the FIRES and cleaning up the broken glass from the RIOTING in Vancouver that you say the police can handle?? LOL...Dallas on the other hand only had 12 arrest and other than the train system completely breaking down was extremley peacefull....maybe u should stay in Vancouver... since your so confident in their policing skills and parade etiquette.
well if he trusted a man named bob you would've watched the game on teh big screens WHICH WERE TURNED ON as he said above...
I may. Problem is, Jeff has the video, and it's hard to take notes whilst conducting a Q&A. I did ask him where the third record is ... because asking about the second is so cliched at this point.
Big Bob, do you plan a post about the W.A.R. Q&A and show? He's great - and yeah, his "perfect" album is still on heavy rotation (vinyl and CD). His first album is worth a listen if only because of the backing musicians: (to name a few) Leon Russell Carl Radle Jim Keltner Russ Kunkel Leland Sklar
No shit, "Bing." Whatever that means...
Pathetic. Just pathetic Dallas. I've been up here in Vancouver, BC during the Stanley Cup playoffs. How come Vancouver can handle 100,000 Canucks fans downtown watching the game against Boston on giant TV screens set up for the public. The public that stretched for more five blocks. And Dallas tries to shoo its public away. If I didn't know better, I might've thought Jerry Jones was behind this. Maverick fans should boycott the victory parade that the City of Dallas will put on with all of the fan fare. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/100000canucks.jpg/
are you serious?!?! So are you saying that game 7 wasn't played here because our stadium is located by hotels/condos....or are you saying that no concerts or games should be played on worknights so they don't disturb the 400 ppl living and sleeping in the surrounding area.....That stadium was there b4 any of that stuff......shouldn't have built there or moved there if it was goin be a problem
Victory Plaza is packed, Big screen TVs are on... http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/636/victorypm.jpg
Well that maybe true, but the people that should really be upset -and have a real right to be- are the business owners that set up shop there. They stick in, despite being dead almost the entire year, them the one day that the businesses can make money, the plaza is closed. I would close shop tommorow.
Don't all "meetings" in VP turn into drinks...if they weren't that way to begin with?
I know a SWAT who looks like the T-1000 from "Terminator 2", and he's all but said he'll be there to keep the party respectful. I can hear so much from my place that I felt like I had purchased nosebleeds--the amount of cheering. So I decided to take it down to Quarter for a Grilled Cheese and Blue Moon. Exponential improvement. Sometimes, if you can't slice the silence with your T-1000 hands, go join 'em.
Looks like they did turn the TVs on after all. Seeing reports on Twitter of more than 2,000 peeps. Photos to come later. #gomavs
um, don't live in or take business next to a major entertainment center if you want peace and quiet
It's too late to be upset, we already gave them what they wanted with none of their strings attached. That said, I would not be surprised if they have the balls to ask for their TIF to be renewed, then we should all tell them no way.
no one in Dallas has ever told the truth about why they wanted to build anything
Who in there right minds would ever bring the Olympics here? We can’t even handle a Watch Party -not even the actual game. A Watch Party. As a Tax payer in Dallas that is helping pay for that plaza with TIF money and who knows what other public subsidies, I am very, very upset about this.
Whatever you do, don't go to John McKee's house. He's gotta be tucked in by 10:00. After all, it's a work night.
Also, isn't this the type of event that the plaza was BUILT FOR? This makes zero sense.
Get off my semi-publicly funded plaza!
"Dallas: We think of the most logical thing to do, and then we do the opposite."
You can always come to the Kessler. I'll be doing the onstage Q&A with Willis Alan Ramsey between sets (his first starts at 8:45), and I hear the TVs will be on in the bar and upstairs.
A sports bar? Your house? A friends house?
It's been a while and that brainspace has mostly gone to the current ways Dallas taxpayers are being screwed by corporate interests but I believe that Victory/AAC was just your standard corporate handout by government, tax abatement, public financing, TIF, infrastructure improvements, elimination of competition, etc. Obviously it was sold as something public for the city since we were trucking cash into the developers offices but it was never more than another handout to another developer to build private facilities that they can use as they see fit. Yeah, tax payers probably helped finance that HDTV, but it was never out of any agreement that it was being built to directly serve our interests. Not that neighborhood disturbing public events for the for-profit sports teams of billionaires serves our interests either, but that is a completely different, much needed public debate that needs to happen as city after city gets fleeced by what has been shown time after time to be a bad deal, financing the facilities of for-profit professional sports teams owned by very wealthy people.
"Dallas: our no-fun is world class!"
City of Dallas: Killing fun wherever possible...
thats dumb.....turn the plaza t.v.'s back on
I could have sworn the City of Dallas used Dallas Taxpayer money to install that Jumbotron on the AAC. Remember how some people complained that it would directly compete with the "moving: Victory signboards? The Taxpayer HDTV needs to be turned on in Victory Plaza for the game. If not now, then when?
So where is a good place to watch the game then?
So stupid, so typically Dallas government.
Who's saying don't have fun? I was just suggesting forming a large, very noisy crowd in between two apartment complexes, one condo building and a hotel popular with business travelers late at night before a workday is inconsiderate, there are still plent of places to "have fun".
Amazing how Dallas, or the AAC, or whoever made this stupid f'ing decision manages to screw things up EVERY TIME they get the chance. A big outdoor party, watching a potential championship-clinching NBA finals game? Who wants that? There are damn few reasons to go that little failure of a plaza, which is why it's generally filled with tumbleweeds and the sound of crickets chirping. Guess they didn't want to mess with the status quo. My initial reaction is "how unbelievable". Sadly, it's way too believable.
I asked DPD who made the call to switch off the big screens in the plaza. The response, sent a little while ago: "My understanding is that the decision was made by AAC officials." I asked a Mavs spokesperson for triple confirmation about plaza-watching plans. The response, sent a little while ago: "We only have access to the big screen on the AAC. I have not been informed of any plans other than our official watch party being held inside American Airlines Center."
Yep. God forbid anyone travel to, or live in, Dallas and see some sort of fun break out near downtown. Unless, of course, you're in some doucher club with bottle service. People partying in the streets for free is so Ft. Worth.
Since the Mavericks have not won a Finals before, what kind of Four Loko fueled civil disobedience will everyone be carrying out? Is shooting guns in the air still cool?
There are people that live in Victory or are staying at the W on business. Granted, not a lot, but enough that really wouldn't appreciate a large, loud crowd in the plaza on a work night.
[I] Double post [/I]
who won?
That is completely stupid. Leave it to Dallas to screw up a good time.
I learned a long time ago to never trust a man named Bob...
Man, that is the exact opposite of the info I got from DPD and the Mavs this morning ...
It will be shown outside as well...trust me, I should know.