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The new Allen Event Center has a capacity that's similar to the Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco, just 11 miles down the road.

ALLEN — There's a new performer on the North Texas music scene, and it's hoping to steal the spotlight.

The Allen Event Center is opening this week with Reba McEntire as its inaugural performer.

"This is a great venue for them to see the same type of entertainment that goes to the American Airlines Center," said general manager Doug Waugh, adding: "And we have free parking here."

The $56 million entertainment center seats 8,000 and comes with its own minor league hockey team, the Allen Americans.

But the venue enters a saturated market. While the first scheduled show features an A-list act, subsequent events feature perhaps lesser known attractions, leaving critics to question whether North Texas can support yet another concert venue.

Just 11 miles down the road in Frisco, the Dr Pepper Arena offers a sports and performance center with a similar seating capacity.

"There's a lot of other venues here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area," Waugh conceded. "We have our work cut out for us."

He said he expects the Allen Event Center to pull in wealthy suburban ticket-buyers like Glenda Goodrich, who is uninterested in going downtown.

"It's close, we just live a mile from here ... we'll stay here," Goodrich said.

Directors consider the AEC to be a smaller version of the American Airlines Center, but with a space that can hold more than twice the spectators, the AAC says it's in a completely different league.

Still, the City of Allen is hoping its event center can prove to be a show-stopper.

E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com