The Dallas Mavericks have stated that they are determined to remain in Dallas and are deciding between two locations on which to build their sparkling new arena and other amenities. While we can help you find the best odds at safe offshore sportsbooks right now, many believe that ownership is banking on building a casino as one of those future amenities.
Home, Sweet Home
Industry insiders believed that the Mavericks were eyeing a relocation to Sin City, considering the team is now majority-owned by the Adelson family, who also own the Las Vegas Sands. Gaming is why Miriam Adelson is worth approximately $36 billion after her husband, casino magnate Shel Adelson, passed away in 2021. While we can help you navigate U.S. sports betting by state to find the best places to wager, Texas currently lacks a regulated market, so it would only make sense that she relocate the team to the same city in which her company’s headquarters reside.
However, that conventional wisdom is erroneous if what the Mavericks’ C-suite is telling us is true. The lease at the American Airlines Center expires in 2031, and the team is determined to build its own arena, along with a hotel, a smaller concert venue, and an entertainment district. Reports indicate that the Dallas Convention Center and Dallas County Jail are the primary sites for the construction of a 40-acre complex.
Mavericks CEO Rick Welts was specifically recruited by Adelson’s son-in-law and team governor, Patrick Dumont, to do what he did in building the Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. Welts was at the helm of the $1.6 billion project featuring an 18,000-seat arena, luxury suites, an outdoor plaza with restaurants and shops, two office towers, a public park, and a season ticket waitlist that spans over 44,000 people.
The Chase Center opened in 2019, and it is one of the most architecturally stunning arenas in the world, replete with two immense glass walls that mark the entrance, along with a four-story atrium that sits next to “Thrive City,” an 11-acre, publicly accessible district with plazas, shops, and restaurants, offering a year-round gathering space designed with native Californian plants.
Welts is now hoping to repeat that success with a sparkling new Mavericks arena in nowhere else but Dallas, Texas.
“One of the reasons I’m here is that Patrick loves the Chase Center. It’s really nice from an aesthetic standpoint, and everything is fan-facing and done first, first, first class,” he added. “That’s what he loves about Chase when he goes to events there; he feels there’s a difference in the quality of fan experience.
“It’s going to be that way when you walk into that building. Our fans are going to say, ‘They get Dallas.’ When people go to Chase Center, they feel like these guys get San Francisco. “It has to do with the food and beverage program we need. It has to do with who we align with in the community. Has to do with the art program that we did.”
Mavs Casino in the Future?
A big part of the new, state-of-the-art arena and entertainment district could be a glitzy, glimmering casino, but that is not possible at this moment due to the political climate in Texas.
However, things change, and considering it will take five years to build the new venue, it is possible that there will be a noticeably vacant spot on which to construct a casino at some point in the future. After all, it’s what the Adelsons know better than anything else.
And it is also a passion shared by the previous majority owner, Mark Cuban, who sold most of his shares to the Adelsons but currently maintains a minority position. Approximately one year before selling his majority share to the Adelsons, Cuban made his feelings known about building a new arena and adding a casino in the heart of Dallas.
“My goal, and we’d partner with Sands, is that when we build a new arena, it’ll be in the middle of a resort and casino. That’s the mission,” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News in December 2022.
He continued, “Texas is such an amazing state that we need to be a destination. And this is the way to do it. And partnering with the Sands Corporation, literally, there’s no reason why we can’t build a huge resort destination in the city proper of Dallas. There are plenty of places to do it.”
