Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and council member Adam Bazaldua smile as they wear Dallas Trinity FC scarves after the unveiling of the Dallas USL Super League women’s soccer team name at Klyde Warren Park, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Dallas.We’ve recently learned that two professional sports teams are headed to Dallas, and Mayor Eric Johnson is trying to lure a third.
Dallas has something of a tortured history with its mayors and professional sports. Perhaps the only blemish on J. Erik Jonsson’s remarkable service as mayor was his lack of willingness to support a downtown football-only facility for the Cowboys. Jonsson was a passionate advocate for the arts and not a sports fan. According to my father, who served on the Dallas City Council in the late 1960s with him, Jonsson was unfazed by the loss of the team, thinking it of minor consequence.
Other Dallas mayors have made concerted efforts on behalf of professional sports in the past. Bob Folsom was a star at Sunset High School who went on to star in football at both West Point and SMU, where he remains the only four-sport letterman — in football, basketball, baseball and track.Folsom, along with my father, was the owner of the American Basketball Association’s Dallas Chaparrals from 1967 to 1971. That enterprise failed in large part because of inferior facilities.
The Diamonds were blessed with the top selection in the draft and picked the Caitlin Clark of the era, Nancy Lieberman . The Diamonds made it to a championship series, but not before moving from the Convention Center to Moody Coliseum. The team, however, was short-lived.Folsom and his backers were able to sell the Chaparrals, which became the San Antonio Spurs and now boasts five NBA titles.
There’s real work to do to keep these teams. The threat to leave is always real. Non-DART cities have an additional penny of sales tax money to entice teams.