Punching Above Its Weight: How Dickies Arena Used L-Acoustics for its Arena Sound System to Position Itself as One of America’s Premier Destination Venues Punching Above Its Weight: How Dickies Arena Used L-Acoustics for its Arena Soun...

There is a moment in every great underdog story where someone in the room decides to stop thinking small. At Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, the decision to invest in one of the most sophisticated arena sound systems in the country came early. It was foresight that would quietly reshape the venue’s identity, its booking power, and its place in the American live entertainment landscape.

A Rodeo Venue That Became a World-Class Destination

When Andrew Schmidt arrived at Dickies Arena in early 2018 to be its Chief Technology Officer, the building’s ambitions were modest by design. The original specifications called for a system suited to a civic arena hosting regional basketball games. But Ed Bass, philanthropist and chairman of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, stepped in during construction, matched the city’s funding, covered all project overruns, and made clear he wanted a premier facility. The vision expanded almost overnight. The question then became: if you are going to build a world-class venue, what does a world-class arena sound system look like?

The answer came from an unlikely source. The first concert Dickies Arena announced was George Strait, a widely lauded, highly popular performer. Schmidt and his team reached out to Strait’s music director with a simple question: if you could design any PA system from scratch, what would you design? They took the answer, went to L-Acoustics, and bought exactly that. Working alongside Electro-Acoustics as the system integrator, they installed eight line arrays in the center, backed by LS28 subwoofers, capable of running at 95 to 96 dB every night for 25 consecutive nights during rodeo season, and delivering concert-grade performance for everything else on the calendar.

Faith, Foresight, and a One-Time Ask

Ed Bass had been deeply involved in the planning and development of the venue long before the city’s funding of a separate entity came into play. His vision for the space included getting the sound right from the start. “We had a unique opportunity with Ed Bass’s philanthropic gift to make a one-time ask and buy the right system,” Schmidt explains. “Mr. Bass understood what this venue could become, and he wanted to make sure the infrastructure matched that ambition. Instead of just getting a good PA system, we wanted the best PA system we could get, so we would never be in a position where we had to rent a PA every year.” That foresight, rooted in years of Bass’s hands-on involvement in the project’s earliest stages, gave the team the confidence to invest in a system built for the long term rather than settle for one that would need replacing or supplementing down the road.

The ownership model was the key insight. Where Will Rogers Coliseum, the old rodeo venue, had always rented a PA at a fixed annual cost, Dickies Arena would own its arena sound system outright, use it year-round, and attract bookings that other venues simply could not offer on the same terms. Matt Homan, Dickies Arena’s President and General Manager, arrived from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia with the mentality that Fort Worth could compete at the highest level. The original target was 105 to 120 events per year. This past year, Dickies Arena hosted 178 shows and 225 the year prior.

A System That Speaks for Itself

The first test came when George Strait played his opening nights. His sound engineer loaded in on a Thursday and at 2:00 AM security called because he was rattling the ceiling, just playing around and giddy with what he had to work with. Strait has since played six shows at Dickies Arena. Every time, the production arrives, ties in, and performs without bringing supplemental equipment.

Word spread quickly. Dave Chappelle booked a pop-up date between Dallas and Austin because the tour knew they could pull a couple of trucks, tie into the L-Acoustics arena sound system, and sell over 14,000 tickets without the logistical overhead of a full production load-in. The PBR World Finals, after their first visit, stopped bringing their own system entirely. As Schmidt put it, they realized it was a waste of time to bring riggers and hang their own rig when the house system was simply better than what they had in the truck.

Credibility on First Impression

In the touring and live events world, first impressions are everything. When a production crew rolls into a venue and looks up at the arena sound system, they know immediately what kind of operation they are dealing with.

“If you look up and see something you respect, that’s a good start to your day,” Schmidt says. “We wanted people to walk in, see a serious PA, and know they were dealing with a serious venue.”

That credibility has paid dividends far beyond what Schmidt initially anticipated. Blast, the esports promoter behind Rocket League, Fortnite, and Counter Strike, booked Dickies Arena for the first time in 2022 and keeps coming back because they can tie into the PA and concentrate their energy on the floor show. They are not going to Atlanta, New Jersey, or Los Angeles. They are choosing Fort Worth.

Shows that once went to American Airlines Center are now booking Dickies Arena instead. Post Malone’s last tour bypassed AAC entirely. Paul McCartney’s most recent visit was here. The venue that opened as a replacement for a rodeo coliseum is now competing directly with one of the most established arena markets in the country.

A Legacy Built to Last

Dickies Arena operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every dollar it generates goes back into the building and the Fort Worth community. On the lighting side, a similar capital investment in a motorized LED system paid itself off in 1.2 years against a 15-year plan. The audio story, Schmidt believes, will tell a similar tale, in saved rental costs, reduced production overhead, and events retained that would otherwise have looked elsewhere.

What began as a one-time ask to buy the right arena sound system for a rodeo has become the foundation of one of America’s most dynamic destination venues. Dickies Arena is now ranked number one in Pollstar and Billboard for venues under 15,000 seats. The acts keep coming back. The events keep getting bigger. And when touring crews walk in and look up at the L-Acoustics system above the floor, they know exactly where they are: a world‑class venue built for big moments that last.