ARLINGTON, Texas — Whenever there is a big concert or sporting event in Dallas-Fort Worth, it usually happens right between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Some of the biggest names and games in the world have passed through Arlington over the years. But the city’s reputation as a premier home for big stadiums, big shows and big crowds started on a much smaller scale.
Six Flags Over Texas opened in 1961 and even in the difficult economic time of the 1970s, Arlington found people always devoted a little money to vacation and leisure.
“Even if they have to take an unemployment check, they are not going to interrupt their vacation plans,” said a member of Arlington’s tourism bureau while being interviewed for a WFAA story archived in SMU’s Jones Film Library.
In addition to the city’s theme parks, fans began to embrace the Texas Rangers who eclipsed the one million fans mark for the first time in 1974, their third season in Arlington.
A year later in 1975 is when Arlington saw a record number of visitors and not just from the North Texas region. The economic was estimated at $100 million a year, although, tourism officials feared the city had reached its peak.
“Tourism officials say the city may have reached a saturation point on attractions in can get here.”
They were obviously wrong.
A couple of billion dollar stadiums prove they were wrong and the economic impact of the tourism industry in Arlington is now estimated at $1.4 billion, according to a 2017 study.