Financial titans Blackrock and Citadel Securities have invested $120 million in creating a national stock exchange headquartered in downtown Dallas. Some steps still remain until it’s official, but with the Texas Stock Exchange looming in Dallas’ future, experts believe it could change the city for years.

On top of cementing Dallas’ reputation as the financial capital of the south, some believe it could drive more company relocations and jobs to the city and state. But questions remain as to whether it can be an effective competitor to institutional powers like the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.

Still, it’s a moment that most experts believe will positively impact Dallas if Texas Stock Exchange CEO James Lee is able to get his registration for it approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He’s eyeing for the exchange to make its first listings in early 2026.

Though he said he won’t be listing any of his companies on the exchange, Dallas billionaire and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban is one of many who’s in favor of it.

“I think it’s an amazing and smart idea. It would be great for Dallas,” Cuban said in an email to The Dallas Morning News. “Not just the jobs, but the improvement on digital infrastructure required, the focus on Dallas-based companies it would bring, and maybe most importantly, it would be a foundation for people to get a better financial education. It would certainly be a place schools took kids, even if it’s mostly just servers. I’m a huge fan of the concept.”

Lee wants to see the Texas Stock Exchange become the third biggest listing venue in the U.S., a giant task as he’ll be competing with institutional juggernauts like the NYSE and the NASDAQ.

Though many local stock exchanges have come and gone over the years, Lee thinks Texas will energize him and the Texas Stock Exchange with its diverse industries and the state’s growing workforce.

“I’m a proud Texan and I’ve been focused on this for decades. It’s really Governor Abbott’s leadership that sparked the idea that led to where we are today,” Lee said. “We have the market structure, expertise and professionals coming together on this project. It’s exciting and it’s going to be felt for decades.”

Changing Dallas’ culture

The Texas Stock Exchange plans to have 100 employees in Dallas based out of its executive offices in an unannounced location in the downtown area.

But experts like David Choate, COO of Dallas-based brokerage firm, don’t think the Texas Stock Exchange’s impact will be felt by the immediate jobs it brings to the area.

“Sorry, 100 more folks downtown isn’t a game changer,” he said. “But we’ve been seeing this cultural shift for the last 30 years. It’s more about the sense of credibility it brings to Dallas as a financial market. We’ve always been a financial center of the Southwest. But this firmly plants us on the map as competitors to New York and Chicago.”

If Dallas culturally shifts to become more like New York or Chicago, financial meccas, as a result of the Texas Stock Exchange, experts predict more outside companies will eye Texas as a viable state for its headquarters or office spaces, said Amirhossein Fard, assistant professor of finance at the University of North Texas.

“I think this could set up Dallas as a more attractive opportunity for local firms, especially in financial or legal consulting sectors that may be closely related to the stock exchange,” he said. “We’re already seeing it now with the new Goldman Sachs campus, but you can expect this to surge high profile financial events and conferences, and could spur new developments. But that could also drive property values higher”

Dallas is already an important financial capital in the U.S. It has a Federal Reserve Bank, has become the home of 24 Fortune 500 companies and is welcoming dozens of new, wealthy residents.

It’s still trying to reel in more companies which will call the city home through initiatives like Proposition G, a $72 million proposition on the 2024 Dallas bond package which will allow the city to use incentives to entice companies.

But to some, the Texas Stock Exchange, while an effective symbol of financial prestige, won’t be enough to bring in any new companies to the region.

“I don’t know that the possibility a company could list its stocks on a Texas exchange would cause them to relocate their headquarters,” said Thomas George, professor at the University of Houston’s Bauer Professor of Finance. “But it will give people an opportunity to identify itself with Texas if they want.”

The Texas Stock Exchange’s strategy will be to target companies in the Southeast quadrant of the United States from Texas to Florida to become listed. With more companies looking to regions beyond the northeast due to proposed financial transaction taxes, Dallas could be a big winner.

“Given the recent economic success of the state, it is quite likely that firms might be willing to list on a Texas exchange, particularly if its rules and protocols make it attractive,” said Ray Perryman, CEO of the Waco-based research firm, The Perryman Group. “The primary challenge would likely be overcoming the inertia of the long-standing presence and prestige associated with New York.”

Can the Texas Stock Exchange compete against the NYSE and NASDAQ?

The Texas Stock Exchange has a tall task ahead of itself in trying to challenge the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. But Texas gives it a few competitive advantages that will serve it well.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who did not respond to an interview request from The News, is one of Lee’s assets.

He’s proposed banning financial transaction taxes, will be appointing seven judges onto Texas’ new business courts and has touted himself as a pro-business governor who will protect businesses from pesky regulations. Texas also has no corporate income or personal income tax.

“Gov. Abbott is not going to run this thing. It’s a private company that would be run by a board and those executives are going to make decisions independent of him,” said, George, the University of Houston professor. “But the branding of it, being located in Texas, it conveys a message to companies that would be listed here about our intentions concerning extra requirements that Texas would not need.”

The Dallas Wings sought redemption Wednesday for the sweep by the Las Vegas Aces that ended their playoff run last season, but they didn’t find it.

Instead, one of their opponents made WNBA history in Dallas’ 95-81 loss in front of a sold-out crowd at College Park Center, where A’ja Wilson became the first WNBA player with at least 35 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in game.

It was the third consecutive loss for the Wings following a five-game road trip, and their first meeting with the two-time defending league champions since their playoff loss in September.

Wilson started the scoring in the first quarter with a layup and never looked back, tallying 14 points to help her team build a 29-16 lead. She finished with 36 points, 14 rebounds and six steals.

“One thing Vegas does a really good job of is pulling you out defensively, really spacing the floor,” Wings head coach Latricia Trammell said after the game. “They have a lot of guards that can get downhill efficiently, and it puts defenses in rotation.”

Dallas narrowed the deficit in the second quarter, 47-42, with star Arike Ogunbowale breaking away with 14 points of her own. Teaira McCowan played stellar defense with three rebounds and two blocks to help hold Wilson to just six points.

The Wings kept the game close for the majority of the third quarter, trailing the Aces 68-61 with 1:20 remaining, but a driving layup and a 3-pointer from Kelsey Plum, followed by a Wilson jump shot with four seconds left, opened up a 13-point lead.

“I think we just kind of let our guard down,” Ogunbowale said of the last minute of the third quarter. “We cut it to three, and we kind of relaxed a little bit, so we just have to keep that intensity up.”

Trammell said her team let the Aces have too many additional chances to score.

“We gave them extra opportunities,” she said. “We talked about this, too, defensively, just having mishaps in our rotations.”

The Aces put the game away in the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 19.

Ogunbowale led Dallas with 31 points, while McCowan made her first career 3-pointer in the first half and finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Maddy Siegrist also scored 14 points and Monique Billings added 12.

“She’s a great player, a two-time MVP,” Ogunbowale said of Wilson. “You can only try to limit her. You cannot really stop her. That’s how good of a player she is. It takes team defense against a player like that, but she did great.”

The Wings lost their second game in the Commissioner’s Cup, the WNBA’s in-season tournament, dropping to last in the Western standings.

“We had a lot of open shots,” Trammell said. “We just missed them. Arike and I were talking about that coming in, but a lot of things to build on. A lot of positives.”

Dallas goes on the road again for its next game in the Cup, facing the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Find more Wings coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

When the season came to a close and Pete DeBoer spoke in his exit interview Tuesday, he gave Chris Tanev what he called the highest possible compliment.

“He changed our team when he came in — in a lot of different ways,” he said. “We were a different team from that point on. That’s because of all the things he brought to the table.”

Before adding Tanev ahead of the March trade deadline, Dallas was a middle-of-the-pack defensive team, ranking 14th in goals against per game (3.03). After Tanev joined the roster, the Stars climbed to second in the league for the last month of the season in that category (2.11). In the playoffs, they finished fifth (2.53).

Tanev proved to be the perfect fit for the Stars, justifying why he was so highly sought after by GM Jim Nill during the trade season. While he nearly helped Dallas reach the Stanley Cup Final, he and the team came up short of their goals, and now, they’ll have to pull some strings to keep him.

Tanev said in his own exit interview that he’d be happy to stay in Dallas for another year.

“I had a great time here. The organization treated me awesome. Coaches were great. I learned a lot. It was a great journey,” he said. “Hopefully, I’m able to stay here. I had a great time. My family had a great time here. We’ll see how that goes. It’s still obviously really early.”

DeBoer expressed the same sentiment.

“We’d love to have him back,” he said.

But Tanev’s future in Dallas will come down to salary cap and whether the team has room for his contract.

Nill put on a masterclass in negotiations when he landed Tanev in late February. He didn’t give up any first-round draft picks, rostered players or top prospects in the three-team trade with Calgary and New Jersey. He also managed to have those two teams retain 75% of Tanev’s $4.5 million cap hit. Dallas was only responsible for $1.125 million this year.

That won’t be the case next year if the Stars choose to re-sign Tanev. After the year he had, the Stars will likely have to pay at least four times what they did for him this year.

But Tanev could be worth it. With Joe Pavelski likely stepping away from the game, that’ll keep some cap space available. The future of other unrestricted free agents like Jani Hakanpää will play a role as well.

While the Stars are still recovering from Sunday’s crushing loss, the conversations around Tanev are set to begin soon. His time in Dallas may amount to just three months, or he could become a key piece in another deep playoff run next year.

“I had my role, which was awesome. Really good team obviously,” he said. “It’s a team set up for success for quite some time with how good the players are, the different age groups of players and how the young guys have progressed and are going to be elite players in the league. As far as that, I’m super fortunate I was able to be here.”

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Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.