Mark Cuban’s pending sale of a majority ownership stake in the Dallas Mavericks to casino mogul Miriam Adelson and her family last week shocked many and raised several questions about the franchise’s future and the potential of legal casino gambling in Texas.
One question was whether the team would continue playing in Dallas or move elsewhere. According to NBC 5 DFW, Cuban and the Adelsons have confirmed the team is not leaving Dallas but will look for a spot to build a new arena, which could be attached to a casino if the legal aspects get squared away.
The Mavericks have been playing at the American Airlines Center since 2001, and their current lease with the arena runs through 2031. Their future home arena is uncertain beyond that, but many have suggestions about where they could construct a new one, including near the new Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, the former site of Reunion Arena, and the current site of the team’s practice facility.
The latter two locations have some issues that could take them out of the running, but a new arena with a casino near the convention center could be beneficial, at least according to some.
“Just in and of itself, the convention center development is one thing,” Dallas City Council Member Zarin Gracey (District 3), the council’s Professional Sports Retention and Recruitment Committee chair, told NBC 5. “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.”
While constructing a new arena and adding a casino could help the city, the Mavericks moving out of the American Airlines Center could negatively impact business surrounding the current venue.
The Dallas Stars have said in the past that they do not plan to abandon the arena, and the venue will still host concerts, but there may need to be a more consistent event schedule for some local businesses to withstand the change.
“That would not be enough,” Monica Sanchez, a hostess at a nearby restaurant, told NBC 5. “We have a lot of employees and it would impact really bad for our families.”