Mavericks CEO Hire Makes Adelsons’ Arena Ambitions Clear

The seriousness of the Mavericks’ intentions to build a new arena and casino in the Dallas area has been laid bare with the team’s hire of legendary basketball executive Rick Welts as CEO.

The Mavericks, now led by governor Patrick Dumont following a deal roughly a year ago with Mark Cuban to buy a controlling interest in the team, brought Welts out of more than three years of retirement to lead both team operations and the efforts to develop a new arena and casino complex. Welts will succeed the outgoing Cynt Marshall.

Named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, Welts built a 46-year career in basketball that ended as president and COO of the Warriors, where he won three NBA championships and oversaw the development of the $1.4 billion, industry-leading Chase Center in San Francisco. But he also had meaningful stints with the Suns and WNBA’s Mercury, the NBA league office, and the Seattle SuperSonics, winning another NBA title and three more championships in the WNBA and NBA G League. 

Having turned the Warriors into an industry colossus and also having helped found the WNBA and acting as a key force in the “Dream Team” marketing for the 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball squad, the 71-year-old Welts had nothing left to prove in the sport. But the large-scale opportunity inherent in the Mavericks’ real estate project—as well as with a team that reached the 2024 NBA Finals—formed an irresistible lure for Welts.

“Part of the vision that Patrick shared with me is this belief that our basketball and business operations, working hand in glove together, really can maximize the opportunity that this team has,” Welts said. 

“There’s no reason this team shouldn’t stand toe-to-toe with any franchise in sports. We have everything here,” he said. 

Land Matters

Soon after the Adelson and Dumont families who control the Sands Corp. completed their deal to acquire majority control of the Mavericks, two companies connected to those entities acquired two prime real estate parcels in the Dallas area. One is downtown, while the other is in suburban Irving, closer to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. 

Exact plans for either property are still being formulated, but Dumont and other team leaders have made no secret of their desire to build the arena-casino complex. A key part of that effort will rely on Texas legalizing sports betting, which has yet to happen and is proving to be a continually thorny issue in state politics there. Texas lawmakers meet in alternating years and will be back in session in 2025.

But even if that legalization is delayed, Dumont reiterated the firm desire to have a new facility. The Mavericks’ current lease for the American Airlines Center expires in July 2031 and will be honored, but future options are already being considered.

“Our goal is to build the best facility possible for the Dallas Mavericks, to be state-of-the-art, world-class, and something that really defines what NBA basketball can present,” Dumont said. “We have the capability to do it … and building is a very, very cool thing. Very exciting. To do ground development is very special, and to have the opportunity to do something transformational doesn’t come along very often.”