A fan’s guide – the club from formation to today
Shoulder-to-shoulder-pad in the same city as the world’s most valuable sports team, FC Dallas has had to face many challenges to thrive as a soccer franchise in MLS.
As Dallas Burn, this founder member of Major League Soccer played at the Cotton Bowl, as steeped in NFL legend as its former tenants, the Dallas Cowboys, today valued at $9 billion.
Based in one of the world’s richest cities, and boasting a squad stuffed with high-scoring Latinos, Burn initially failed to attract investors and had to rely on MLS itself to back the club.
But this is Dallas. Despite no local rival – Houston Dynamo didn’t enter MLS until 2006 – this seemingly inauspicious operation was turned around by the man whose father inspired the creation of the city’s most famous fictional son. Oil tycoon H. L. Hunt begat J. R. Ewing, central character of TV soap Dallas. In real life, he sired at least 15 children, the tenth of whom, Lamar, went on to steer contemporary soccer in the U.S..
A major player in the gridiron game, Hunt owned two franchises in the early days of MLS. He soon picked up a third, converting Dallas Burn into FC Dallas and, most of all, moving his club to a new stadium 25 miles North of Dallas in Frisco.
As ever, this soccer pioneer was ahead of his time. Today’s Toyota Stadium was only the third soccer-specific stadium in the country. While MLS is still dwarfed by NFL in the Big D, soccer now has a prominent foothold. In February 2024, the city was hotly tipped to be chosen to host the 2026 World Cup Final.
The size of the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, potentially 105,000, was not the only factor that pushed its claim above all others’ – location and love of soccer also came into play. While New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium won the vote, Dallas – or rather, nearby Arlington – will stage nine matches, more any other venue in the tournament, and as many as Wembley did in 1966.
That year, Lamar Hunt was just getting into his stride as a sports administrator. Attending his first World Cup, impressed by the passionate crowds in England and hearing of high viewing figures back in the States, Hunt grasped the power of big sports events and commercial potential of TV.
Inspired, he wrote to the NFL commissioner and suggested the term ‘Super Bowl’ for the showdown with the champions of the American Football League Hunt himself had set up in 1959. Then, once back in America, the tycoon helped set up the National American Soccer League (NASL), aimed at launching the sport in the States.
It proved a slow process. Usurped by the rival National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), a CBS contract in its back pocket, Hunt’s NASL pivoted to become the United Soccer Association (USA).
With no time for the new teams to build a squad and with huge stadiums to fill, the 12 members were each assigned a European or South American club whose players would represent them. Hunt having founded Dallas Tornado, Dundee United came over from Scotland to appear before crowds of under 10,000 at the 75,504-capacity Cotton Bowl.
With a history linked to the Texas State Fair dating back to 1886, a shrine to college football, the home of the Dallas Cowboys through the 1960s did not take kindly to soccer. Even when USMNT played internationals there in the run-up to the 1994 World Cup, crowds hovered around 15,000.
True, Brazilian, Dutch, Argentine and German fans all but filled the place for the six games of the tournament itself, but it wouldn’t be until 2004 that a friendly between the U.S. and Mexico attracted a gate of 45,048.
Dallas Tornado lasted two years at the Cotton Bowl, the second as a member of the new NASL. While the NPSL and Hunt’s United Soccer Association worked out their merger before the inaugural season in 1968, Tornado toured the world to spread the message, playing 45 times in 26 (!) countries, even entertaining homesick G.I.’s in Vietnam.
By the time the NASL kicked off, a squad of mainly English and Scandinavian players were exhausted and heartily sick of each other. Tornado would go on to win twice in 32 games, setting a negative record that no other NASL team would beat, all the way up to the league’s demise in 1984.
By contrast and in bizarre circumstances, Tornado actually won the NASL title in 1971, a season that featured only eight teams and frankly absurd new rules insisting that tied games be played until somebody scores. In the case of the first Playoff Semifinal with Rochester Lancers, the match lasted 176 minutes, another 148.
Game one of the Final with Atlanta Chiefs required 123 minutes to decide a winner, by which time Dallas had clocked up 537 minutes of soccer in 13 days. English coach Ron Newman still managed to rally his troops for Tornado to take Final games two and three.
The team had long moved out of the Cotton Bowl, the remainder of the NASL era only notable for games with Cosmos. In 1973, Dallas beat its New York rivals in the NASL Semifinals at Texas Stadium, the recently opened home of Dallas Cowboys. Tornado then attracted a crowd of 18,824 there for the final with victors Philadelphia Atoms.
In June 1975, Dallas was granted the honor of providing the opposition when Pelé made his Cosmos debut. The venue was run-down Downing Stadium on Randalls Island, the pitch a disgrace, the setting where Jesse Owens won the Olympic trials in 1936.
Tornado effectively folded in 1981, by which time the Dallas Cup had been established by the Texas Longhorns Soccer Club to reciprocate the hospitality its teams had received while touring in Europe.
Held every Easter, in time this grew into the world’s most prestigious club tournament for various age categories. Entry is by invitation only, 40% of the teams coming from abroad and 20% from Dallas. David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Clint Dempsey and Andrea Pirlo are among the later star names to have taken part in it.
Demolished in 2010, Texas Stadium was best known for the hole in its roof, a feature repeated when Cowboys gained a new home over in Arlington, later named after sponsors AT&T. Texas Stadium would host only one soccer international, USMNT’s 1-1 draw with Costa Rica in a meaningless friendly in 1991. A crowd of 22,787 traveled to Irving to witness the recent winners of the inaugural CONCACAF Gold Cup, the U.S. having already been selected to host the upcoming World Cup in 1994.
While teams may have justifiably complained about the humid, hot conditions when playing at the Cotton Bowl, this did not prevent newly established Dallas Burn not only moving in two years later but celebrating the local conditions in its name. Wearing shirts of fiery red, the Burn was one of the ten founding members of MLS, which chose Dave Dir as team coach.
Two of the other teams were owned by Lamar Hunt, a prime mover behind the initiative. One of them, Columbus Crew, would soon receive the first modern-day soccer-specific stadium in the U.S..
For its debut against San Jose Clash on April 14, 1996, the Burn attracted 27,779 to the Cotton Bowl. The game goalless and settled by a shootout, four days later, fewer than 10,000 came to the next match, against Hunt’s own Kansas City Wiz.
In a bid to boost interest in a club with no sponsors, MLS persuaded veteran Mexican superstar to come to Dallas for most of one season. It was the former Real Madrid star who opened the scoring when the Burn met the Wiz in the decider of the Western Conference Semifinals, showing his errant teammates how to convert a penalty in the subsequent shootout.
Stepping out of the Mexican’s shadow, USMNT forward Dante Washington led the charge in 1997, scoring twice in the Western Conference Semifinal against LA Galaxy. Colorado Rapids proved too strong in the Conference Finals.
That October, Dallas won its first U.S. Open Cup, a goalless affair in Indianapolis decided on penalties. Two years later, the venerable tournament would be named in honor of Lamar Hunt.
Regular qualification for the Playoffs – hardly a massive achievement with eight teams going through from 12 – barely moved the dial on crowd numbers at the Cotton Bowl. Lamar Hunt, who had overseen the progress of Columbus Crew, whose attendances were edging towards a near capacity 20,000, decided to step in.
With the two Florida teams folding in January 2002 – it is said that the entire league was close to collapse but for Hunt’s powers of persuasion – Dallas Burn was the only team left in the South.
Abandoning the onerous costs of hiring a mainly empty Cotton Bowl, in 2003, the Burn moved into the new-build Dragon Stadium at Southlake, a temporary solution while Hunt figured out a plan for the long term.
Assuming ownership of the Burn and rebranding the team as FC Dallas, Hunt knew that a soccer-specific stadium was the way forward. The site would be the fast-growing suburb city of Frisco, 25 miles North of Dallas, whose population of upwardly mobile professionals had increased fivefold during the 1990s.
Arranging sponsorship with Pizza Hut, whose global HQ was nearby, Hunt not only built a 21,000-capacity stadium but an entire complex where the Dallas Cup and youth tournaments could be staged. This was a veritable soccer city independent of the gridiron game – although college football would also be played here.
To raise capital towards the $80 million costs, Hunt sold on his Kansas franchise. With serious fan culture growing around Columbus Crew, Hunt could focus on Dallas. Opened in August 2005, Pizza Hut Park was soon staging the Texas Derby when Houston Dynamo joined MLS in 2006. Whoever has the better head-to-head record in the domestic season lifts El Capitán, the trophy modeled on a cannon from the 1700s.
Now sponsored by electronics chain RadioShack, FC Dallas began to generate interest and income. An average home gate just shy of 15,000 was recorded in 2006, the first full season at Pizza Hut Park and one in which the team under former Northern Ireland striker Colin Clarke topped the Western Conference.
An early red card for Liberian international Chris Gbandi put paid to Dallas hopes in the Playoffs against Colorado but soccer in the Lone Star City seemed to be a viable opposition after a decade of doubtful struggle. Pizza Hut Park also hosted a second consecutive MLS Cup Final, Houston’s successful involvement pushing the crowd up to 22,247. A month later, Lamar Hunt died, passing FCD ownership on to his son, Clark.
The 2007 campaign ended in a fiery Texas Derby in Houston, 30,088 at Robertson Stadium witnessing a notable Dynamo comeback in overtime after record Guatemalan cap Carlos Ruíz had put Dallas ahead early on in the Western Conference Semifinal. The visitors could then only better their rivals on number of cards awarded, two of them red.
It needed experienced college soccer coach, Macau-born Schellas Hyndman, to take Dallas to its first, and so far only, MLS Cup Final. 2010 had already been eventful, given the visit of recently crowned Champions League winners Internazionale, a creditable 2-2 draw at a packed Pizza Hut Park.
FCD then surprised everyone, not least David Beckham in the Western Conference Final at a stunned Home Depot Center, with all 27,000 seats sold. Colombian attacking midfielder David Ferreira hit the first of three unanswered Dallas goals, the MLS MVP for 2010 then opening the scoring once more in the MLS Cup Final in Toronto. An unfortunate own goal from defender George John saw the decider, and the trophy, run away from Dallas as Colorado Rapids took the spoils.
Opening the 2011 season with a sellout against Chicago Fire, Dallas continued to attract crowds in healthy numbers as former FCD midfielder Ósear Pareja replaced Hyndman as coach in 2014. Losing out to Seattle in the Western Conference Semifinals on away goals, Dallas took revenge at the same stage a year later thanks to a stoppage-time goal from promising young center-back Walker Zimmerman.
Playing in front of the home crowd in Frisco at renamed Toyota Stadium, the hosts then hit four perfect penalties in the shootout, the last falling to the later regular USMNT defender.
Two ding-dong battles against Portland Timbers then dashed Dallas hopes of another MLS Cup Final. It was Seattle’s turn to shine in the Conference Semifinals in 2016, a month after Dallas the U.S. Open Cup thanks to a 4-2 win over New England Revolution at Toyota Stadium. The path to victory was anything but smooth: in the Quarterfinal, FCD edged out Houston in a tense Texas Derby settled on a sole goal in the 91st minute, the Semifinal clincher coming even later as Dallas scored on 116 and 121 minutes to sink LA Galaxy in extra-time.
There was more drama a year later in the CONCACAF Champions League, when Dallas came within a whisker of taking Pachuca into extra-time in the Semifinal in Mexico, but for a stoppage-time heartbreaker from Hirving Lozano.
Pareja bowed out in 2018 with a defeat in Frisco to Portland Timbers, ending another Playoff series almost before it had begun. Falling at the First Round in 2019, this time after a 4-3 thriller in Seattle, Dallas overcame Portland with eight successful spot-kicks in the extended shootout of 2020. Seattle again prevailed in the Conference Semifinals.
By 2022, MLS had another Texas representative, and Dallas another local rival: Austin FC, whose Q2 Stadium was full for the host’s 2-1 over DFC in the Conference Semifinals.
Some 200 miles away in Dallas, the city had been chosen as a key host of the 2026 World Cup. When selected for the 1994 edition, the city had not hosted regular professional soccer for a decade. Now Dallas was one of only eight cities with an unbroken record of MLS representation since its beginning in 1996.
Frisco is also the home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame ($15, seniors & under-12s $12, Wed 1.30pm-9pm, Thur-Fri 1.30pm-5.30pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm), installed in 2018 as part of the complete rebuild of the South End of Toyota Stadium. Lamar Hunt, who invested tens of millions of dollars to develop soccer in Dallas, would have approved. His statue stands proudly behind the North End, home of the Dallas ultras.
STADIUM GUIDE
The field of dreams – and the story behind it
Only the third soccer-specific stadium of the modern era in the U.S., the home of FC Dallas underwent a major renovation in 2018, 13 years after it opened. Originally, the later named Toyota Stadium was multifunctional, with a large area for a concert stage at the North End, limiting capacity to around 20,000.
This was also the location for the Beer Garden, which in turn gave rise to the name of the most boisterous members of the supporters’ section, the Dallas Beer Guardians https://www.dallasbeerguardians.com/ (DBG). Partly in response to the pandemic, partly to reconfigure the spaces around the stage area, in 2021, the club moved the supporters’ section to the opposite, Southwest corner, of the stadium, in 112-113.
While keeping imbibing levels high, this has the added advantage of overlooking the players’ tunnel, noise bouncing off the canopy extending from the Soccer Hall of Fame that occupies most of the South End.
DBG shares the space with the other main ultra group, El Matador, coming to the decision to name the section The Rhine in honor of FCD legend Bobby Rhine. The dutiful utility player made more than 200 appearances for Dallas from 1990 onwards, before retiring to become the Community Development Manager. In 2021, he died suddenly from a heart attack while on vacation with his family. He was only 35.
The promised safe standing, using the kind of orderly rail seating long established in Germany, has now appeared, although FCD supporters have also long been petitioning for the stage area at the North End to be removed, something the club can investigate now that the Beer Garden has poured its last Budweiser.
The less fanatical follower can choose between the uncovered, slanting East and West Sides of bright red behind the long sidelines. The West is generally preferred as the afternoon sun beats down hard on spectators opposite – although with later kickoff times, this hardly matters. A seat around ten rows up from the home bench in sections 106 and 107 should allow you a good view of the action while making you still feel involved.
The entire South End was rebuilt as part of the 2018 overhaul, now twin-tiered and covered beneath the prominent Soccer Hall of Fame running right across the top. Away fans are allocated section 122 at the South end of the East Side, 123 as well if Austin is in town.
Surrounding the main stadium are 18 (!) regulation-sized soccer fields, making the complex absolutely ideal for youth tournaments such as the Dallas Cup.
TRANSPORTATION
Going to the stadium – tips and timings
Dallas Fort Worth Airport is 19 miles (31km) Northwest of Downtown Dallas, 25 miles (40km) Southwest of Frisco, location of Toyota Stadium.
Onward transportation is provided by DART.
From Terminal A, the Orange Line of the DART light-rail network runs to Dallas city center, including transit hub Akard Station (every 20mins, 50min journey time) close to Elm Street. In peak hours, the tram runs all the way to Parker Street Station in Plano, a total journey from the airport of 1hr 30mins.
This is the closest the four-line DART Light Rail gets to Toyota Stadium, but that’s still 16 miles (25km) away, a taxi journey of around $40. From Akard Station, the Red Line runs to Plano offpeak hours, too, 40min journey time.
DART also oversees the local bus network. Buy tickets and find real-time information by downloading the DART GoPass app for Apple or Android mobiles. It can also be obtained contactless from ticket machines – cash purchases aren’t valid. There are ticket machines at main stops and stations, including the airport’s in the covered walkway before the rail platform, and a DART Store within Akard Station.
An AM or PM pass ($3) covers all local transportation including the airport, for all travel completed before or after noon. A $2 Local is valid 9.30am-2.30pm daily. A day pass is $6 Local or $12 Regional, valid until 3am the next day.
The city’s smaller airport, Love Field, is six miles (10km) Northwest of Downtown Dallas. It’s mainly used by low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines for domestic flights. Love Link bus 55 runs to Inwood/Love Field Station on the Green and Orange Lines. From the airport, the ride is free but you pay for the onward journey. Going back to the airport, it’s $2.50, exact change only if paying in cash.
If you’re absolutely determined to reach the stadium by public transportation, you can also take hourly bus 308 from Downtown San Jacinto @ Harwood E Ns to Dallas N Tollway @ Democracy, 45min journey time. While this leaves you at an unpromising location by the highway, the Courtyard by Marriott Dallas Plano hotel is nearby, with a café and restaurant. From there, a taxi to Toyota Stadium should be around $15-$18.
Getting back to Dallas after the game might be far trickier – a taxi all the way should cost around $70. Rideshare services Uber and Lyft also operate in the Dallas area.
For a Dallas taxi, try Yellow Cab (214-426-6262), which has regulated fares from DFW and Love Field airports of $55 and $26 respectively to Dallas Central Business District. If you need a taxi in Frisco, try Frisco Texas Taxi (972-364-7770). For Plano, try Taxi Plano (469-774-4444).
If you’re driving to the game, parking lots around Toyota Stadium (9200 World Cup Way, Frisco, TX 75033) open three hours before kickoff. Parking costs $20 in the Sienna Blue Lots where Main Street/parallel Lamar Hunt Way meets Frisco Street on the East Side of the stadium, and the Corolla Red Lots between World Cup Way and Dallas Parkway on the West Side.
Parking costs $10 in the Highlander Green Lots between the pitches of sports village and Frisco Street and Rav4 White Lot the other side of the pitches North of the stadium by All Stars Avenue.
All payments for parking are cashless.
TICKETING
When, where, how, and how much
Tickets for the whole FC Dallas season are sold through the website. You can also buy in person from the Box Office (Mon-Fri 10am-4pm & 4 hours before kickoff) in the South Stand by the Soccer Hall of Fame. The Will Call service is in the North Box Office facing Lamar Hunt Way, picture ID obligatory.
General admission to the safe-standing Supporters’ Section should be $24 for most games. Tickets are also pretty affordable along the East Side of the stadium, around $25-$30, in sections 124-132, and in outer sectors 102-103 and 110 in the West Side. A seat in sector 111, right by the Supporters’ Section, tends to be nearer $40 as you’ll experience a lot of the atmosphere close up.
Sitting in prime West Side sectors 104-108 over the halfway line will cost you $50-$80, while in the covered South Stand, beneath the cover of the Soccer Hall of Fame, seats go for around $50. For the derby with Austin, seat prices generally start $10 higher.
MERCHANDISE
Jerseys, souvenirs, and all kinds of gear
The game-day FCD Fan Shop is at the Northeast side of the stadium, across from Toyota Terrace on Lamar Hunt Way. The FC Dallas primary uniform for 2024 features a suitable blue-and-mauve Afterburner effect on red, the back solid red. White dominates the alternate uniform, with touches of red and black around the collar and waist.
Long-sleeved T-shirts, slides and sweatshirts all feature the FCD logo of a lone star and a longhorn. Retro fans can still buy Dallas Burn merch while stocks last.
Built into the National Soccer Hall of Fame at the South End of the stadium on World Cup Way, Soccer90 (Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm) not only stocks FC Dallas jerseys, but those of other MLS teams, plus Premier League, Bundesliga and a few Liga MX, too.
Don’t miss Soccer City (Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-4pm), ten minutes from the stadium at 6616 Main Street, a large store lined with replica jerseys from across the world, including FCD’s plus boots, balls and cleats.
TAILGATING
Enjoy the full matchday experience
Tailgating is a big deal at FC Dallas. A couple of hours before kickoff, Dallas Beer Guardians gather in the Red Lot between World Cup Way and Dallas Parkway on the West Side of the stadium. Actually, that’s a lie, because for big games and season starters, DBG members get guzzling and scarfing from a full 24 hours before the game, the beer supplied by a local community brewery.
A more raucous or inclusive tailgate you’d be heard to find in MLS – although El Matador, in the Southwest corner of the Red Lot, pushes it pretty close, marching off to the stadium from there to drumbeats and communal singing in Spanish.
Where to Drink
Matchday beers at the stadium and downtown
Toyota Stadium is surrounded by family-friendly chain establishments, the loudest and loyal followers of FC Dallas preferring to gather for pre-game tailgates (see above Tailgating) by the arena.
Still family-run after 40 years, Blue Goose Cantina on nearby Dallas Parkway has built its reputation on classic Tex-Mex cuisine and kicking margaritas. If you’re here for a match during the week, it’s happy hour Mon-Fri, 2.30pm-6.30pm.
Just behind the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Jakes Burgers and Beer has put equal focus since 1985 and now offers a range of Texas craft brews in pints or schooners. HQd next door in Frisco, Rollertown produces The Big German and Juice Serum IPA, both on tap and both worth investigating. TV sports and a long terrace provide extra reason to linger.
Downtown Dallas has several sports bars to choose from, although a surprising number of popular ones have closed, even before the pandemic. A few tears were shed at the passing of Trinity Hall, The Idle Rich, Renfields Corner and McKinney Avenue Tavern, now just a blurry memory.
Thirsty sports fans needn’t despair. Right on Elm Street – yes, that Elm Street – City Tavern notched its 20th year of showing games and serving beer in 2023. These days, you’ll find Yuengling, Blood & Honey from Revolver Brewing in Texas, and Velvet Hammer from Peticolas Brewing right here in Dallas. Look out for the weekday lunch specials at under $10.
One block over on Main Street, Frankie’s is not only a recent winner of Best Sports Bar in Dallas but also Best Happy Hour, Best Cocktail Bar and Best Wings, telling you much about what goes on at this long-established Downtown favorite. And that doesn’t mention the craft beers, currently from local Four Corners, Oak Cliff and Pegasus City, nor The Underground, a speakeasy-style private space downstairs. Frankie’s also wins out for longevity, the original Frankie’s opened on McKinney Avenue by the husband-and-wife team of Bill and Johnnie back in 2003.
Where Elm Street meets Main, Press Box Grill puts the emphasis on the grill, but the bar counter merits propping up and chugging back while gawping at sports.
On the first floor of the Omni Hotel a few blocks from Dealey Plaza, Owner’s Box attracts sports fans and hotel guests with its huge and multiple TV screens. You can book a private table with sound-isolating technology or sip a Curveball cocktail with Garrison Brothers bourbon on the patio.
Over in Uptown Dallas on McKinney Avenue, BlackFriar Pub is another stalwart of the drinking scene, dating back to 2003. A couple of TV screens dot the wooden interior where Paulaner, Stiegl, Newky Brown and Austin Eastciders are served, along with signature dish, fish & chips. There’s a courtyard, too, if you prefer to imbibe al fresco.
A few blocks away in the district of the same name, Harwood Arms is a hangout for Chelsea fans, Brit enough to call TVs tellies, of which there are seven usually tuned to soccer, and also Brit enough to extend the Poets’ Day of Friday into a happy hour bonanza from 11am to 4pm. Harwood itself is a modern concept, an area of Uptown Dallas kickstarted by the opening of the original Rolex Building in 1984. Here, postwork socializing is a fine art.
Just beyond Downtown Dallas to the East, Backyard takes full advantage of its space by filling it with 45 large TVs, two vast LED screens and a state-of-the art sound system. The result is enough people to create a real stadium atmosphere, although NFL takes precedent over soccer. With buckets of beer and serious cocktail deals, it’s a pack ’em in and make ’em happy formula that also works in Phoenix and Fort Worth.
Beyond there, up in Lower Greenville halfway to Lakewood, award-winning Christies sealed its reputation in its Uptown days, and remains a top destination for sports watching, partly thanks to its 69 HD TVs and two huge projector screens. Another plus the lively roof terrace and equally popular cocktails on tap
timeline
Following the local soccer scene
1967 Sports mogul Lamar Hunt founds Dallas Tornado, first represented by Dundee United in the United Soccer Association
1968 Still based at the Cotton Bowl, Tornado joins inaugural NASL
1971 Dallas Tornado wins NASL
1973 Tornado beats New York Cosmos at NASL Semifinals at Texas Stadium, then loses final there to Philadelphia Atoms before 18,824 spectators.
1975 Pelé makes his Cosmos debut against Tornado at modest Downing Stadium.
1980 Dallas Cup introduced, later to become the world’s most successful invitational youth soccer tournament.
1981 Dallas Tornado effectively folds.
1991 Texas Stadium hosts USMNT vs. Costa Rica in a friendly before a crowd of 22,787.
1993 Cotton Bowl stages a series of USMNT friendly internationals in preparation for the World Cup.
1994 Dallas one of nine host cities for the tournament, teams such as Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and Germany having to deal with the heat and humidity of Texas in June/July.
1996 Based at the Cotton Bowl, Dallas Burn one of ten teams to line up for the inaugural MLS season.
1997 Dallas Burn wins U.S. Open Cup later named after Lamar Hunt.
2003 Hunt buys Dallas franchise, rebrands team as FC Dallas and plans soccer-specific stadium.
2005 Pizza Hut Park opens in Frisco, 25 miles North of Dallas. Stages MLS Cup Final that November, then again in 2006.
2010 FC Dallas plays recent Champions League winner Internazionale at Pizza Hut Park in front of 21,193 people. FC Dallas plays MLS Cup Final in Toronto, a narrow defeat to Colorado Rapids after extra-time.
2015 Renamed Toyota Stadium stages opening game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a doubleheader in which Clint Dempsey scores twice for USMNT against Honduras. Poor crowds attend later tournaments co-hosted here in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
2018 National Soccer Hall of Fame opens in the rebuilt South End of Toyota Stadium. Supporters’ groups Dallas Beer Guardians and El Matador move from the North End to a new safe-standing area of the stadium.
2022 Dallas chosen as a host city for the 2026 World Cup, games to be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
2024 Dallas in the running to host the 2026 World Cup Final – loses out to New York/New Jersey but will stage more games than any other city, including a Semifinal.
