McKinney's $300 Million Sunset Amphitheater Now Targets a 2027 Opening

The Sunset Amphitheater, a $300 million open-air music venue under construction at the northwest corner of US-75 and State Highway 121, is now expected to open for the 2027 touring season rather than 2026 as originally planned. McKinney City Council approved an amendment to the city's economic development agreement with developer Venu at a Jan. 6 meeting, formally updating the construction timeline to a September 2027 completion.

Venu, formerly known as Notes Live, broke ground on the 20,000-seat amphitheater in June 2025 after McKinney approved its site plan, and the project has been under construction since. When finished, the venue is expected to host as many as 70 concerts a year, positioning McKinney as a new live-music destination in North Texas alongside larger venues in Dallas and Fort Worth.

The amphitheater's planned amenities go well beyond a standard outdoor stage: its design includes 250 luxury fire pit suites, some priced at close to $1 million, climate-control systems built for an open-air venue, and a members-only club developed in partnership with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. Venu has said it intends to book "A-list, Grammy Award-winning, national touring acts" once the venue opens.

To handle the traffic the venue is expected to bring to the US-75 corridor, the city has authorized roughly $2 million in TxDOT funding for capacity improvements nearby, including additional turn lanes, sidewalks, and crosswalks along the highway's frontage road and at Gateway Boulevard, Marketplace Drive, and Medical Center Drive.

For now, the project remains a construction site rather than a concert venue, with the delayed timeline giving McKinney residents another year before the amphitheater's first show. City officials have not announced a specific date for groundbreaking on the venue's interior buildout or when ticketed events might first go on sale.