{"id":509957,"date":"2026-03-18T17:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509957\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:56:19","slug":"dallas-mavericks-eye-downtown-arena-but-no-land-no-talks-no-design-yet-ceo-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509957\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Mavericks eye downtown arena, but no land, no talks, no design yet, CEO says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mavericks CEO Rick Welts<\/a> says the team still wants a downtown arena, but with no land, no talks with City Hall and no design, the project remains in its earliest stages. <\/p>\n

The updates came during an interview with former Mayor Tom Leppert and Kyle Waldrep on the Intersections podcast<\/a> released online this week. Among the highlights:<\/p>\n

Land constraint<\/p>\n

Welts said<\/a> the team needs roughly 50 acres, and \u201cright now there aren\u2019t 50 acres available downtown,\u201d a limitation that effectively narrows the field for any urban site. <\/p>\n

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While he reiterated that downtown would be ideal, he emphasized it \u201cis not the only place in Dallas we can build,\u201d keeping options outside the core in play. <\/p>\n

The team previously has identified the former Valley View Mall site as a possibility. The Mavs lease on their current home, American Airlines Center, runs through 2031.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Valley View Mall site seen on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Smiley N. Pool \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

No deal, no design<\/p>\n

For all the attention on a potential City Hall redevelopment, Welts said the Mavericks have not even begun substantive talks with the city. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t even been able to talk to the city about what that deal would look like,\u201d he said, adding that the arena itself has not yet been designed, another sign the effort is still conceptual.<\/p>\n

Mixed-use ideas<\/p>\n

Welts described a broader mixed-use vision for any 50-acre site, anchored by a new arena, team headquarters and a practice facility.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, he pointed to other elements tied to the development, including a training complex that \u201cprobably would include a medical facility run by a medical company you\u2019re very familiar with.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also cited interest from Live Nation in building a 4,000- to 5,000-seat venue and in having a four-star hotel connected to the arena so performers and players could move between the two without leaving the building.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Aerial view of Dallas City Hall (right) and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas<\/p>\n

Smiley N. Pool \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Why downtown<\/p>\n

Welts said dense, urban locations deliver the greatest payoff, saying such projects \u201care incredibly successful in a dense environment\u201d and can serve as a catalyst for surrounding development. <\/p>\n

But he also signaled urgency, noting \u201ctime is not on our side.\u201d He said that while a downtown site like City Hall is \u201ca very viable option,\u201d the team has no control over it and cannot negotiate unless it becomes available.<\/p>\n

From staff reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mavericks CEO Rick Welts says the team still wants a downtown arena, but with no land, no talks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[196,28678,5047,147,5278,5,40,4,333,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-509957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-city-hall","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallas-stars","12":"tag-dallasstars","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116251473612023361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}