The Dallas Mavericks have retained CAA Sports to lead the franchise’s commercial strategy for the development of a new arena, a significant step in the team’s journey to move into a new home in five years.
The collaboration with CAA Sports — a division of entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency — will focus on identifying brands for naming rights and other sponsorship deals that align with Mavericks CEO Rick Welts’ vision for a “next-generation” sports and entertainment arena.
Retaining CAA Sports to lead the commercial strategy for a new arena project is a significant step for the Dallas Mavericks, who plan to move into a new venue in 2031. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts said the collaboration with CAA Sports, which has a long track record of working on high-profile projects, underscores how committed the Mavericks are to building an arena that will shape the future of sports and live entertainment in North Texas.
In a lengthy interview with The Dallas Morning News, Welts called the collaboration, which the team will announce later today, a “linchpin to our success.” Mavericks President Ethan Casson said it is a “foundational moment” for the franchise.
“It’s because of their track record, experience and their global reach,” said Welts, referencing previous collaborations he and Casson had with the sales agency.
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“And we both lived it. We know how this process works. There’s nobody who does it the way they do it. This is the preeminent organization that deals with the best brands and the best projects.”
Welts and Casson called the partnership a coup for the franchise, which plans to move into a new arena when their lease with the American Airlines Center expires in 2031. CAA Sports has completed more than $15 billion in new sponsorship business on behalf of clients since its inception in 2007.
Welts, the former president of the Golden State Warriors, worked closely with CAA Sports on commercial strategy for the Warriors’ $1.4 billion Chase Center, which opened in 2019. Casson, the former chief revenue officer for the San Francisco 49ers, did the same for the team’s $1.2 billion Levi’s Stadium, which opened in 2014 and this month hosted its second Super Bowl in a decade.
CAA Sports also orchestrated naming rights agreements for the Los Angeles Clippers’ Intuit Dome and is working with the A’s on their planned Las Vegas ballpark. It also had partnership agreements for Formula 1, Red Bull Racing, Riot Games and the United States Tennis Association.
Paul Danforth, CAA Managing Director and President of CAA Sports, told The News the agency does not take on a lot of projects overall and chooses to work on one NBA arena project at a time.
“You look at ownership, you look at the executives and the market,” he said of the Mavericks’ arena project, “this was our first choice … We would not have taken the opportunity if I didn’t feel as though we could make a significant change in the commercial opportunity for the team and ownership. So I think there is tremendous, tremendous upside.”
Welts told The News the team has narrowed its focus to two locations for an arena in Dallas. Those locations are downtown and the Valley View Center property, a sprawling 110-acre site at the corner of Preston Road and Interstate 635.
He said a decision is expected by July.
Danforth, whose daughter attends SMU, specifically referenced Dallas’ transforming business, financial and technology sectors.
“I look at this opportunity, not only transformational change with the organization, but transformational change of the city of Dallas,” Danforth said. “I spent some time with Patrick [Dumont, Mavericks majority owner]. And when he shared with me that he was bringing Rick out of retirement, I was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’
“And when Rick talked to me about Ethan, I was like, ‘Okay, now if we can get the old team back together and work on one of the most exciting projects in all of sports, at the time when Dallas is going through incredible transformation, I couldn’t be more excited about this project.’”
Casson said arena development requires the “right advisors at the table early,” adding CAA Sports has long demonstrated the expertise and creativity needed to shape major sports and entertainment projects.
“Factor in the fact that Dallas is the fastest growing city, and companies across the country continue to migrate here with their headquarters,” Casson told The News, “and now take the brands associated with that, that transition in this area of the country, and CAA and its global footprint, and its past successes, and our personal relationships, and the fact that we get to announce this really symbolic, very big story around the arena project, this is going to really be an important first step for us.”
Fans walk outside Chase Center before a WNBA preseason basketball game between the Golden State Valkyries and the Los Angeles Sparks in San Francisco, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Jeff Chiu / AP
Danforth ‘always looking to make a deal’
Danforth’s track record in commercial sales dates back decades, when he succeeded amid steep headwinds. In 1994, when the New York Mets hired him on commission to sell sponsorships, he said, it was during the MLB work stoppage. In his early 20s, he still managed to sell a $1 million deal with Dunkin’ Donuts during the 232-day strike.
Scott O’Neil, former CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, once told Sports Business Journal: “He’s always looking to make a deal. If I had an $800 million project to sell, he’s the guy I’d call — and I did.”
Now, with a global footprint of CAA Sports sales executives, Danforth said the pool of potential brands is worldwide for the Mavericks, citing how global the NBA has become — some 30% of players are foreign-born — and how many team sponsorship partners are international. In addition to drawing interest from Texas-based companies, he believes the team will draw “significant” interest from brands globally.
The pursuit of a so-called “next-generation” venue encompasses innovation, technology and enhancing the fan experience, he and Welts said. Danforth said Dumont, Welts and Casson want to create one of the league’s best fan experiences in “one of the most luxurious buildings ever built.”
He referenced resort properties that Las Vegas Sands, where Dumont serves as president and chief operating officer, built in Singapore and Macao, saying Dumont is “used to building some of the best and most luxurious properties in the world, and I think this is going to be one of those as well.”
The Mavericks view San Francisco’s Chase Center as the blueprint in terms of the quality they want the new arena to possess. But the Mavericks stress this arena will not be a replica of Chase Center. Rather, they want a Texas-flavored arena that captures the feel, personality and culture of North Texas.
The Mavericks are also intent on enhancing the fan experience and expanding their community impact, creating what they view as a unrivaled home for basketball operations and large-scale live events.
Mavericks have ‘ambitious’ vision for arena
CAA Sports is a five-time recipient of the award for “Best in Property Consulting, Sales and Client Service” by Sports Business Journal.
Because CAA Sports only works on one NBA-focused project at a time, Welts said, its attention and resources will be exclusively devoted to the Mavericks’ arena project.
The collaboration includes the current planning period as well as long-term commercial efforts. With an “ambitious vision” for the future of the Mavericks, Welts said he wants the franchise to shape both the future of sports and live entertainment in North Texas.
Welts said securing CAA Sports is significant because the sales agency has several dozen people globally to assist in conversations both domestically and internationally. The agency’s track record of “transformational” partnerships, he said, is bolstered by having the three individuals behind the inception of CAA Sports — Michael Levine, Howard Nuchow and Danforth — still with the agency.
In December, Sports Business Journal named Levine, Nuchow and Danforth among the 125 most influential sports business leaders of the past 25 years, saying the trio has “aggressively, yet methodically built one of the largest, most profitable and powerful sports companies in the world … Collectively they have one of the largest and most influential networks in sports.”
“It’s a marriage,” Welts said. “There really is a courtship. You look at the projects that CAA Sports takes, they only take the highest-profile, best projects. We wanted an agency that did that, but you have to get picked by them too, because there is no lack of opportunity for them to be able to be involved in other projects if they chose to.”
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