Dickies Arena
Dickies Arena Murals
News that will come as a shock to no concert-going Fort Worthian, Dickies Arena has yet again finished high in the rankings of the 2024 year-end boxscore charts from three separate industry publications: Billboard Magazine, Pollstar Magazine, and VenuesNow Magazine.
According to a press release, Dickies Arena came in at No. 2 in both Billboard Magazine’s Top 10 Worldwide boxscore charts and the Top Stops Worldwide chart by VenuesNow Magazine for venues with a seating capacity of 10,001-15,000.
In the first case, Austin’s Moody Center, which we’ll henceforth call Dickies’ intrastate venue rival, took home top honors. In the latter, it was Glasgow's The OVO Hydro that edged Dickies out — Moody came in third.
The Fort Worth venue also came in at No. 6 on Pollstar Magazine’s Top 200 Venues Worldwide list — a bump up from No. 7 last year. For what it’s worth, the venerable Madison Square Garden came out on top and Moody Center didn’t crack the top 10.
“Fort Worth is an incredible and diverse market with a passion for entertainment and it is great that our beloved city of Fort Worth is continuing to gain recognition worldwide,” president and general manager of Dickies Arena Matt Homan said in a statement. “Twenty twenty-four was an incredible year with selling more than 1.1 million tickets. We will continue to entertain fans with the great shows planned in 2025.”
When one scrolls through this year’s archives, seeing world-famous artist after world-famous artist, it’s easy to deduce how Dickies is able to stack up to such well-regarded and renowned venues. This year’s slate of talented folk who took the stage at Dickies included Fall Out Boy, Tyler Childers, Justin Timberlake, Blink 182, two nights of Chris Brown, Janet Jackson, Santana, Barry Manilow, Cagarettes After Sex, Hans Zimmer, Marc Anthony, and Leon Bridges, just to name a few.
The multi-purpose venue, which seats 14,000, first opened its doors on Nov. 8, 2019, filling a need in a metroplex that was previously devoid of a venue its size. According to Premier Construction News, the arena also contains a world-class audio system and was “designed with the intent of having the sound of a concert hall.”
Getting its name in a positive headline also brings some much-needed good news to the once-local company whose name is currently affixed to the arena. Williamson-Dickie was sold to Denver-based VF Corporation in 2017 and announced in late November Dickies’ headquarters will be relocating from Fort Worth to (gulp) Costa Mesa, California. Despite the move, a spokesperson for Dickies told the Star-Telegram that the move would have no impact on the arena’s name. But this didn’t stop a slew of Fort Worth homers from protesting a change to the award-winning venue’s moniker.
Regardless of name — though we'd argue the F-35 Arena could help allay D.C. dissension over the fighter jet's future (we can dream) — the arena appears perfectly capable of attracting artists and fans alike.
