DALLAS — Editor's note: The following story was first published in the Dallas Business Journal.
For Patrick Dumont, the first six months of his family's ownership of the Dallas Mavericks have seemed almost too good to be true.
The Adelson and Dumont families purchased a majority stake in the NBA franchise from longtime owner Mark Cuban on Dec. 27 for nearly $4 billion. Since then, the Mavericks surged in the second half of the NBA season following a couple of trades and rolled through the playoffs to make it to the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history.
"It's just better than anything that I imagined it would be," Dumont said during a rare meeting with reporters on June 14 ahead of the Mavericks' Game 4 matchup against the Boston Celtics.
Dumont — governor of the Mavericks and son-in-law of Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson — sounded like any other basketball fan when discussing the team's run over the past couple of months. He loves the fact that Jason Kidd, who won an NBA championship with the Mavericks as a player in 2011 and retired in 2013 as one of the best points guards in league history, is now leading the team as its head coach.
"It really is like a fairy tale," said Dumont, who can be found sitting courtside next to Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki at the American Airlines Center.
Dumont dished on a wide range of topics including improvements coming to the AAC, the family's effort to legalize gambling in Texas and possible plans for a destination casino resort with a new arena. Here's what Dumont had to say on those topics and more.
On why the Adelson and Dumont families bought the Mavericks:
"We're here for a couple of reasons. One, our family loves basketball and this is very exciting. But we also fundamentally believe in the future of the city of Dallas. And in Texas, we think it's a great business community, We think it's just a great, great place to be. Love the character of the community here. It's very family oriented. We love that. And we think it's a great place to invest, and we're going to invest more in the future. That means investing in the community. That means investing in the fan experience. That's something that I like to do a lot. I really enjoy hospitality. I really enjoy food and beverage. Unfortunately, look at me, I like to eat a lot. It's probably not the best thing for me, but I really enjoy it. So, we're going to look at the arena in partnership with the [Dallas] Stars in the city and look to invest more there and enhance the fan experience at AAC and we're kind of gonna go from there."
On the biggest surprise in the first six months of ownership:
"I think the first thing is how enjoyable it is and how much fun it is to actually be involved in an organization like this. There are many businesses that are very challenging, and this one's very challenging and very competitive, but it's also incredibly fun. Everyone wants to talk to you about it, and that's pretty cool and it's something you can share with people. You can experience the games with them. You can bring family, you can bring friends. But to be fair, there's 18,000 friends when you're in the arena, so it's a pretty cool experience. There's no real way to prepare yourself for that, right? I've been to NBA games, but it's very, very different being on the other side."
On the family's plans for the Mavericks and future investments after entities tied to Las Vegas Sands Corp. bought 259 acres of land in Irving in summer 2023 (The Adelson family is the majority-owner of Sands, and Dumont is the company's president and chief operating officer):
The team decision was a family decision. I work at a public company. I have a responsibility to the public company. What the public company does is based on the interests of the public company. But the factors about Dallas are the same. It's a great business community, a place where there's a lot of investment going in, a place where there's growth. Dallas is a growing market. The Metroplex is growing. Businesses are moving here. There's economic expansion, and investment is good. When the family made the decision about the team we were very excited about the city of Dallas and about being part of the community here. That was very, very interesting. We were very excited about it. And so investment for us is going to be focused on the team. Our family is going to be focused on anything that helps the team.
On Sands' interest in Texas and the relationship between the company and the Mavericks:
"I do want to point out that us buying the team had nothing to do with getting gambling in Texas. Las Vegas Sands had been looking at Texas way before we ever knew we were going to buy the team. If you look at the history of Las Vegas Sands and you look at the Texas Destination Resort Alliance and you look at the efforts that we put in here and our family's relationship with people in Texas, it goes back a long time. We didn't know we were going to buy the Dallas Mavericks. That just came up. When Mark came to us and we started having this conversation, it was very exciting but it had nothing to do with the public company's goals and dreams and efforts.
If you look at our history [in Texas], we've been very focused and very specific about what we're doing. Now, if there ever comes a time where those two things converge, and there's common interests there and it makes sense, then we'll pursue it. But for now, I'm very focused on the Dallas Mavericks, doing the things that are right for the Mavericks, and Las Vegas Sands is very focused on doing things that are right for Las Vegas Sands.
On the company's plans for the land purchased in Irving:
I don't know. For us, we're a real estate development company, we're a gaming company and we're a hospitality company but we don't buy other people's projects. We do everything ground up. We design, we develop and we operate. For us, one of the key assets we need to have is land and location. Las Vegas Sands is going to look at land that they think is useful and attractive and make decisions about that land when it becomes available.
On what improvements could be coming to the AAC:
Our goal is to really impact the experience of every fan in the building to enhance it. I think if you look at some of the newer arenas being built today, there's something for fans all over the arena, be it premium experiences or be it all over the arena in terms of activations and ways for our fans to connect with our team. You'll see it from top to bottom but it's gonna take a little bit of time because it's a living, breathing arena, right. It's busy all throughout the year, so we're gonna have to be mindful in the way that we do it and realize that we're kind of doing an operation while we're running a sprint. But we'll get it done. And I think when we're done, I hope that will be something that the community enjoys and appreciates.
