As a self-imposed July deadline to choose a new arena site approaches, Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts said Tuesday that conversations with lawmakers about building in downtown Dallas \u201ccan accelerate now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mavericks plan to leave the American Airlines Center, where they are co-tenants with the NHL\u2019s Dallas Stars, in 2031. The Mavericks want to build a basketball-only arena with a surrounding entertainment district.<\/p>\n
Last week, Welts revealed that Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert suggested to him a little more than a year ago that the Mavericks\u2019 development project could go where the aging City Hall building is currently located. He clarified the nature of that conversation on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me that it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate City Hall,\u201d Welts said. \u201cAnd it could be that the city would have to consider moving out of City Hall. That really was the summation of our conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the ability now to talk to the city about a potential framework of a deal. That\u2019s something we hadn\u2019t been able to talk to the city about before. That process is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early March, the Dallas City Council voted 9-6 in favor of exploring the possibility of leaving City Hall<\/a>, a 47-year-old I.M. Pei-designed concrete structure that resembles an inverted pyramid.<\/p>\n Welts has been clear that the Mavericks want to stay in Dallas<\/a>. If the Mavericks aren\u2019t able to work out a deal to develop land downtown, it\u2019s possible the team could head to a site in North Dallas, where the old Valley View Mall was located.<\/p>\n Welts, a 73-year-old NBA Hall of Famer whom Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont convinced to come out of retirement to oversee the team\u2019s new arena efforts, said the Mavericks need at least 50 acres of land to complete the project.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what we\u2019re envisioning is one of the biggest sports developments that\u2019s ever taken place,\u201d Welts said. \u201cOver 50 acres. We\u2019re talking hotels. We\u2019re talking retail. We\u2019re talking a new arena. A new practice facility. Wherever this is built, it spurns additional development in that area. And that\u2019s a real benefit. We are super excited about downtown. We are on the clock. I think that\u2019s going to be our biggest challenge at this point. We will know by July where we\u2019re going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n During his 10-year run with the Golden State Warriors, Welts oversaw the construction of the Chase Center in San Francisco that opened in 2019. That process took seven years to complete, which is why Welts feels urgency to decide on a new arena site by this summer.<\/p>\n Welts\u2019 first day on the job in Dallas was Jan. 1, 2025. One month later, the Mavericks traded superstar Luka Don\u010di\u0107 to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package centered around Anthony Davis. Former general manager Nico Harrison \u2014 the driving force behind the deal \u2014 was fired in November 2025. The Mavericks then traded Davis to the Washington Wizards this February. They have reset their roster around Cooper Flagg, last year\u2019s No. 1 draft pick, who scored 49 points in a January game<\/a> against the Charlotte Hornets, the most by a teenager in NBA history.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope Cooper Flagg is MVP of the NBA Finals, and we have a banner hanging in the arena,\u201d Welts said. \u201cEvery reason that I chose here out of retirement, every one of those reasons still exist today. This franchise should stand toe to toe not just with any franchise in the NBA but any franchise in sports. We have the ability to recruit talent here. A growing community unlike any in the country. A business-friendly environment that allows organizations like us to do well while doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n Welts said the vetting process to hire a permanent new head of basketball operations is underway, with Dumont running point. The Mavericks want to make a decision ahead of the draft in June. The team will consider internal and external candidates. Since Harrison\u2019s firing, Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley have served as co-interim general managers of the team.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no specific set of characteristics. I can tell you there is a variety of candidates who present a variety of different personalities. Different track records. It\u2019s the most important decision that the organization is going to make for the coming seasons,\u201d Welts said. \u201cSo we are going to take our time and get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a self-imposed July deadline to choose a new arena site approaches, Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[196,5047,147,5278,5,4,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-533580","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-mavericks","10":"tag-dallas-stars","11":"tag-dallasstars","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116326084384462907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533580","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=533580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}