MLB’s All-Star game shows where Fort Worth is; it’s time to address downtown again

The death and demise of downtown Fort Worth has been slightly exaggerated, as evidenced by the active and alive scene throughout Sundance Square on Saturday evening. It’s not some decaying, ghost town full of zombies.

Downtown Fort Worth is not what it once was, back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s when there was one burger joint, pubs that a barfly wouldn’t frequent, and a bunch of those “horror movie” style parking lots.

Also, downtown Fort Worth is not what it once was, back in the early 2000s, when it was one of the great success stories in American urban re-development.

The arrival of the MLB All-Star game to Arlington this week unintentionally illustrated Fort Worth’s evolution, and needs. It needs to re-address its downtown again.

The decisions to build Dickies Arena and prioritize cleaning up and re-vamping the Stockyards are both wins. Dickies Arena is one of the best multi-purpose venues in the United States.

The Stockyards was for far too long one of those areas that sounded cute, but when a visitor arrived they left unimpressed. Now it’s a genuine attraction that you would want to bring a visiting friend from out of town to actually see rather than merely drive through for 10 minutes.

There is a reason why when MLB people scouted DFW for potential locations for its All-Star game related festivities, it selected the Cowtown Coliseum in the Stockyards to host the MLB amateur draft on Sunday night. The city is considering $1 billion expansion plan that would nearly double the size of the entertainment district.

As far as downtown, the only visible sign that the All-Star game is in the area are a few flags on the light posts on Main Street near the Fort Worth Convention Center. The ice cream parlor, Melt , on Magnolia did offer a special “All-Star flavor,” but this all feels like an opportunity missed.

The momentum that downtown Fort Worth generated in the late ‘90s and all through the early part of this century visibly looks stalled. It was the momentum that led to ESPN routinely using Fort Worth as its primary backdrop to games played in Arlington.

That needs to come back.

COVID didn’t help, and neither has what sounds like a continued “disagreement” between tenants and landowners. Civic and business leaders need to figure out a way to re-start the momentum and hit the growth button on downtown.

The city needs to attract a few businesses to this side of DFW. God knows we as a city need to support our own dining community just a bit more.

Fort Worth has the potential to have the best downtown in the American Southwest because it’s one of the few that is actually pedestrian friendly. There is so much potential here to be better, bigger, while maintaining a small feel that few cities can boast.

Downtown Fort Worth has the potential to be in the same sentence as Sixth Street in Austin.

By the time the World Cup comes to North Texas in 2026, downtown Fort Worth needs to be a bigger player than to offer some flags on light posts. AT&T Stadium will host nine World Cup matches, the most in the entire tournament. This is one of those rare chances when the entire world will be coming to your house.

Finishing another hotel in that time is a bit much to expect, but adding more dining and entertainment options is realistic. Sundance Square has the potential to be the biggest party center for the World Cup in DFW.

World Cup tourists are unlike any other visitor this area has seen in 30 years; this is an ocean full of foreigners who come to the U.S. with little thought of a budget. This is not a Texan giving a Texan their money to go to Six Flags. This is a Spaniard, a South African, or a Brit’, handing over their currency to a Texan.

Give them every reason, and more options, to do it, and to want to come back.

One of the strengths of Fort Worth in the last 25 years has been the state of a downtown that went from awful to awesome. The city needs to get that awesome feeling back, because it has shown what is possible.

MLB’s All-Star game festivities showed where Fort Worth is; the Stockyards are doing well, and it’s time to make downtown a player again.