clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Dallas-Fort Worth: Championship Game Central

The professional sports scene in the Dallas-Fort Worth area effectively began in 1960 with the Dallas Cowboys (we won't count two short lived stints from the Dallas Texans or the ABA Dallas Chapparals, none of which involved title appearances). The Texas Rangers set up shop in 1972, and the expansion Dallas Mavericks joined the scene in 1980. While the Cowboys were frequent Super Bowl guests - eight times before the turn of the century to be exact - no NFL, MLB or NBA championship was held in Dallas-Ft. Worth until 2006, when the Mavericks hosted the Heat three times.

The Dallas Stars moved to town in 1993 and actually began the championship series tradition in the city by winning the Stanley Cup in Buffalo in 1999 and then seeing New Jersey win all three games in Dallas hoist the Cup at Reunion Arena in 2000. That fateful Game 6 double-OT goal by Jason Arnott meant the first major pro championship ever won in DFW.

In the three initial primary sports, the drought continued until those 2006 NBA Finals, which, like the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs, ended with a visitor holding the trophy in Dallas. It would be the fall of 2010 before another championship series came to town, meaning that a collective 119 NFL, MLB and NBA seasons were played with a DFW team and only one ended with championship games played in town.

Beginning with the 2010 World Series, though, we've seen nothing but championships. The Rangers participated in their first World Series last fall and saw the Giants hold the Commisioner's Trophy at Rangers Ballpark on November 1. Super Bowl XLV on February 6 marked the first time Dallas would host the NFL's championship game. The Cowboys, of course, were nowhere near that game, but we did see Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers raise the Lombardi Trophy at Cowboys Stadium.

Now, beginning Sunday, the NBA Finals will be back in Dallas. If the series is won in four or five games, the champion will hoist the O'Brien Championship Trophy at American Airlines Center. Here's hoping the streak of visitors doing the honors does not continue.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.