Featured image credit: Drew Mentzer on Unsplash
The NBA Board of Governors has approved Mark Cuban’s $3.5bn (£2.7bn/€3.2bn) sale of a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks with a potential new arena to be built.
Casino mogul Miriam Adelson has acquired the franchise’s controlling ownership alongside Sivan and Patrick Dumont – the latter of whom is Adelson’s son-in-law and will serve as the Mavericks’ governor.
Adelson is the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and is estimated to be the fifth-richest woman in the world with $32.3bn in wealth.
While the Mavericks currently play in the American Airlines Center, about a mile north of downtown Dallas, Cuban envisions the development of a new home for the team after the current lease expires in 2031.
The 65-year-old bought the Mavericks in 2000 and will remain in charge of on-court operations. He is aiming for a state-of-the-art venue that includes a hotel and casino.
This would be in partnership with Las Vegas Sands, a casino and resort company, of which Patrick Dumont is chief operating officer. However, the plan faces a significant obstacle as sports betting and casinos are currently illegal in the state of Texas. It would take an act of the state legislature and voters’ approval to become legal statewide.
Adelson has been active in her pursuit to bring casino gambling to the Lone Star State, most notably with a $2m investment into political action committee Texas Sands last year. She gave an additional $1m donation to Texan Governor Greg Abbott who has expressed his support to legalise sports betting.
The closure of the Mavericks deal comes after it was initially reported in November that Cuban was set to sell a majority stake in the franchise to Miriam Adelson and The Miriam Adelson Trust, principal stockholder of Las Vegas Sands.
Las Vegas Sands earlier announced the launch of a proposed secondary public offering of $2bn of shares of its common stock by Adelson and the Trust. Commenting on the conclusion of the deal, Cuban said: “It’s a great partnership. It’s what the team needed on the court and off. I’ll still be overseeing the basketball side of it.
“But having a partner like Patrick and Sivan and Miriam and their ability to build and re-develop the arena and whatever comes next beyond that, puts us in a much better position to compete.”
He added: “When I first bought the team, I knew more about the technology and the internet and all the streaming than anybody else in the NBA. So, I had a real advantage there. Now, all that, 23, 24 years later, that’s not the advantage anymore. Now, you see other teams doing, you saw what the (Washington) Wizards just did.
“The advantage is what can you build and where and you need to have somebody who’s really, really good at that. Patrick and Miriam, they’re the best in the world at what they do. Literally, around the world. When you get a world-class partner who can come in and grow your revenue base and you’re not dependent on things that you were in the past, that’s a huge win.”
Texas already has a billionaire NBA owner who is a casino operator in the form of the Houston Rockets’ Tilman Fertitta, who has failed to influence lawmakers in his favour.
Dallas City Council Member Zarin Gracey has given his support for the proposed new arena, and states that it should be located adjacent to the planned Dallas Convention Center. “Just in and of itself, the Convention Center development is one thing,” Gracey said, as reported by NBCDFW.
“To add a potential relocation of the Mavericks downtown in that area as well as a casino, this could absolutely be a destination for really a lot of the country coming and have a good time in one area.”
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