![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WESRFNJONZCZDPYZZAHCM6H2U4.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
At long last, confirmation: The Dallas Mavericks and city officials are officially discussing a deal that could plant the team\u2019s next arena where Dallas City Hall stands.<\/p>\n
Before we go any further, let me be clear. <\/p>\n
This is not exactly what Rick Welts, the Mavs\u2019 CEO, said over lunch earlier this week. And City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert still won\u2019t give a straight answer to straight questions about how the land beneath Dallas City Hall became a jump ball.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019re all grown-ups here. So when Welts says, \u201cBased on the City Council vote, we now have the opportunity to talk to the city about the structure of a deal, and that\u2019s new for us,\u201d we all know what he\u2019s talking about. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s referring to the council\u2019s 9-6 vote earlier this month<\/a> that directed Tolbert to further study repairing City Hall (wink, wink) and to \u201cexplore options for the disposition of the City Hall site.\u201d In case anyone walked away from that 16-hour meeting on March 4 (and into the wee small hours of March 5) thinking that momentum for razing and replacing I.M. Pei\u2019s City Hall with a new arena had slowed just because a lot of people opposed to tearing it down spoke into an open mic.<\/p>\n Opinion<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Far from it. <\/p>\n That\u2019s especially true given the Mavericks\u2019 timeline that ends with a July decision about where the team will build a new arena and some 50 acres\u2019 worth of amenities that Welts said will include a practice facility, hotels, apartments, retail, restaurants, a medical facility and a Live Nation-controlled music venue. The Mavericks have already pushed past their original March deadline, with no wiggle room left if the team is to meet its deadline of playing in a new arena come the start of the 2031-32 season. So it\u2019s now or never if the city hopes to keep the Mavericks downtown.<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts has been far more visible and far more vocal about the team’s future home than city officials.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Welts is the 73-year-old Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer brought here to chase one more arena<\/a> for one more NBA team. And he said a lot when we sat down this week, as he\u2019s wont to do of late over the increasingly loud sound of the ticking clock City Hall has told us to ignore. <\/p>\n The city manager, on the other hand, sent only a brief statement dispatched by a spokesman, which concluded: \u201cIt is our practice not to negotiate in the media.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also city leadership\u2019s practice not to talk to the media nor, by extension, the residents of this city. We\u2019re just told, if we\u2019re told anything at all: Just hold on, we got this. Which is increasingly impossible to believe when there\u2019s no vision, no plan, no leadership, just a bunch of people fighting for their scraps of downtown. <\/p>\n We\u2019re told, over and over, to stop talking, stop asking, stop looking at the mess of their own making. So let\u2019s look no further than the Dallas Wings<\/a>, which the council this week stuck with building their $81 million practice facility on public parkland because the city fouled up construction cost by $27 million. The WNBA team will also have to wait two more years before it can move into downtown\u2019s Memorial Auditorium \u2013 which may very well sit next to whatever the Mavs hope to build on Marilla Street.<\/p>\n A Mavericks spokesperson confirmed this week what we\u2019ve suspected all long: Welts and ownership didn\u2019t look at City Hall and say, \u201cYeah, let\u2019s do it there.\u201d The official word is that the team \u201cdid not originate the conversation with the city of Dallas regarding a downtown venue.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson during the open-mic portion of the City Council meeting that began March 4 and ended the morning of March 5. At the end of 16 hours, nine members of the council approving resolution that directed Tolbert, in part, to “explore options for the disposition of the City Hall site.”<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n So I asked Tolbert how 1500 Marilla became the downtown go-to.<\/p>\n \u201cSince being named Interim Dallas City Manager and subsequently appointed to the permanent role, I have met with representatives of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars regarding their futures in Dallas,\u201d she said in that statement. \u201cThese discussions have included the teams\u2019 need for a modern fan-friendly arena experience. Regarding discussions about the future of City Hall, the Dallas City Council directed me to explore options, including the disposition of the City Hall site.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the extent of her statement. A city spokesman also attached that March 4 council resolution, which, Welts said, made it possible for the team and city to officially begin those discussions Tolbert won\u2019t discuss.<\/p>\n \u201cUp until this point, we\u2019ve not been able to have any discussions with the city manager\u2019s office about any sort of specifics about what a deal could look like,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now I\u2019m told by the city manager that that 9-6 vote allows us to sit down and start to talk about the parameters of the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dallas Mavericks want to pick a site for a new arena by no later than July. Dallas City Hall appears to be standing in the way.<\/p>\n El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Welts said earlier this week those discussions were \u201cimminent.\u201d A source confirmed they met Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n \u201cUp until now, the level of conversation has not been specific at all,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we can start to explore if we can find the parameters of a deal that\u2019s good for Dallas and good for the Mavericks.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774620915_927_42DLICKSNBECFCBZP2PXJXVCVI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ALVJSYBHKVCQ5EVVPUKYM2LCGE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/L7KHAE7S55A7NLUT7RZZGSEKSQ.JPG\")
<\/p>\n