The brand-new professional volleyball league has signed a two-year agreement making Areté the exclusive practice facility for the Dallas team—a partnership that Areté chairman Lance Black calls “incredibly validating.”
“We had a professional league look at every viable sports facility across the entire Metroplex and say, ‘Your building is the one we want to call home,’” Black said. “That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the ultimate third-party endorsement of everything we’ve built here.”
The decision came after MLV executives toured venues across North Texas, evaluating court quality, performance training space, recovery amenities and overall athlete experience. Areté’s all-in-one campus—11 competition-grade volleyball courts, dedicated strength and conditioning zones, recovery rooms, sports-medicine staff and an on-site café—ultimately won out.
Starting this month, the Dallas MLV roster, coaching staff and performance team will train daily at Areté throughout December’s training camp and on into the regular season. The café is providing meals to players and staff, and the franchise’s strength coaches are already programming in Areté’s performance center.
The partnership officially kicked off November 24 when MLV held its inaugural league draft inside the Areté Athletics Center.
While home games will be played at the Comerica Center in nearby Frisco, everything else—practices, film sessions, weight-room work, recovery and nutrition—stays in McKinney.
For Areté, the deal is the clearest proof yet that its vision is working.
“We set out to create one facility that could genuinely serve an athlete from the youngest age through professional,” Black said. “Whether you’re a young athlete hitting your first ball, a high-school team chasing a state title or now a pro getting paid to play, we can handle the entire life cycle under one roof. Having Major League Volleyball choose us confirms that.”
Fans will feel the partnership too. Starting in January, official Dallas MLV apparel and merchandise will be sold in Areté’s retail store, and the facility’s courts will carry subtle MLV branding during the season.
Black is already looking beyond volleyball.
“This is the first partnership of this magnitude, but it won’t be the last,” he said. “We have a couple of very strategic, large-scale collaborations in the works that we expect to announce in the first quarter of 2026.”
For now, McKinney gets to watch pros train every day—and Areté gets to prove it belongs among the premier athlete development destinations in the country.
“I just want Major League Volleyball to be wildly successful,” Black said. “And I’m really excited we get to be part of their story.”
Click here to learn more about Areté Athletics and its offerings today.
The above story was produced by Multi-Platform Journalist Sydney Heller with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.
