NCA All-Star championship moves to Houston after 30 years in Dallas
The National Cheerleaders Association's All-Star National Championship is heading to Houston — a decision made before the chaotic weekend at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
After 30 years, the competition will relocate to Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center and Toyota Center for 2026, 2027 and 2028, according to a news release from Varsity Brands.
In a statement to CBS News Texas, Brian Bianco, strategic communications director for Varsity Brands, confirmed that the organization made the decision before Saturday's incident, which prompted a mass evacuation and resulted in 10 people sustaining minor injuries.
"It was announced well before the last weekend that the event would be moving to Houston during construction to the Dallas Convention Center," said Bianco. "We haven't made any commitments to any cities beyond this project, but we've had a great 30-year relationship with Dallas, and we hope to return."
The construction of the Kay Bailey Hutchison center is a planned expansion that is expected to be completed by 2028.
"While we initially planned to keep the event in Dallas and host it in early January of 2026, we've had to pivot due to the new construction updates from the City of Dallas," said Justin Carrier, vice president of Competition Experience for Varsity.
"Stampede" at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center
More than 58,000 people participated in this year's championship — including 1,712 teams of 30,410 athletes and 3,700 coaches — representing 43 states and nine countries, according to the Dallas Sports Commission.
Dallas police said hundreds, if not thousands of people, evacuated the convention center at once on Saturday.
According to police, the situation unfolded around 1 p.m. when a fight between two people caused several poles to topple.
Police said the disturbance triggered panic and led to a "stampede" as people rushed outside, believing an active shooter was inside the building.
The Dallas Police Department confirmed that there was no active shooter and no shooting had taken place.
Dallas-Fire Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said 10 people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, which ranged in severity from bumps and bruises to extremity fractures.
Varsity suspended activities as a precaution and resumed the competition on Sunday, adjusting the schedule to allow all teams to compete as intended.
On Sunday, as competitors and attendees tried to return to normal and focus on winning, some told CBS News Texas they were disappointed about the lack of expected security upgrades.
"I think it's unexcusable what happened, and all I can think of is the threat to the children, the parents," said cheer grandparent Ruben Alvarez. "Anybody can walk in there with anything and do something to 500 people before anything's happened. And I don't think that, for what the venue charges and for all the teams here, I think that they are a total failure on security."