20,000 seat Sunset Amphitheatre set to open in McKinney, 2026

The Sunset Amphitheater, a 20,000-seat open-air concert venue, is scheduled to open in McKinney, Texas in 2026. The music venue and hospitality company Notes Live is building the venue, which is expected to be the largest of its kind in McKinney.

The new venue will be located in northeast McKinney off U.S. Highway 75 and State Highway 121. According to Live, the amphitheater will support more than 1,300 jobs and create over $3 billion of regional and local economic activity in the first 10 years of operation.

The Sunset Amphitheater project in McKinney is modeled after Notes Live’s upcoming Colorado Springs venue. Roth characterizes the McKinney rendition as the Colorado Springs edition “on steroids” because of its 20,000-person capacity compared to the base model’s 8,000-person capacity. The concept in Colorado Springs adopts a campus-like approach to development and integrates elevated food and beverage options with its Bourbon Brothers restaurant and Notes Live music and social bar. The venue will span over 46 acres in McKinney and feature over 250 luxury fire pit suites along with reserved seating.

“They say everything’s larger in Texas, and for the Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney, that was our guiding principle — larger, and better,” Notes Live CEO JW Roth remarked. “McKinney is an incredible community, and we can’t wait to construct the most extravagant venue on Earth.”

The $200 million McKinney Sunset Amphitheater is the fourth new Notes Live music and entertainment venue announced in the past year. One of the company’s recent amphitheater projects, the Sunset Amphitheatre in Colorado Springs, started building in March 2023 and is set to open in August.

“This world-class music venue is a game-changer for our entertainment offerings in McKinney and will be a boon for our economic growth and tourism sector. With a state-of-the-art venue of this size, we can draw some of the largest musical acts to the city and attract fans from across Texas and the surrounding states,” said Mayor George Fuller. “This new addition to our community will bring even more life and energy to our already thriving arts scene and undoubtedly continue to set McKinney apart as an entertainment and cultural hub in the region.”

Is Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney the largest concert venue in the Metroplex?

The planned Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney is set to accommodate a sizable crowd, yet it won’t claim the title of the largest concert venue in the Metroplex. The Dallas’ Cotton Bowl Stadium boasts the highest capacity for a concert venue in North Texas, with over 91,000 seats. Following closely are Arlington’s AT&T Stadium, with an 80,000-seat capacity, and Choctaw Stadium, with a capacity of 48,000. With a capacity of 20,000, Sunset Amphitheater will align with other mid-size concert venues in the Metroplex, including American Airlines Center in Dallas and Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas, both with a capacity of 20,000, and Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, boasting a capacity of 14,000.

As know you, Dallas-Fort Worth area is famous for its numerous entertainment spots. However, Fuller says that when discussing concerts and music events in the area, a lot of them mainly occur in venues that were not originally intended for music but repurposed sports arenas. With now Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney, Fuller anticipates that the Dallas-Fort Worth will gain access to a purpose-built venue tailored to music enthusiasts’ preferences.