Cuban has sold the Mavs to Adelson-Dumont Family

[SleepingHero]

Welcome our new overlords! The Adelson-Dumont family!

And they are getting busy:

@townbrad
There's been puzzlement expressed in media reports about Adelson-Dumont seemingly putting the cart before the horse with purchase (before gambling approved in Texas). On the contrary, I'm told that plans for a new arena-resort will go forward ASAP. Casino can be added later.

Also, how does this affect the Mavs future roster choices, especially if Cuban is making the decisions on who is being signed for the time being? The Adelson-Dumonts are worth roughly ~40bil. About 10-12 teams worth. Do they care about luxury tax really? 

Landon Thomas (@sixfivelando)
The Dallas Mavericks will now have the third richest sports team ownership in the US, second in the NBA.

1) Steve Ballmer
LA Clippers

2) Rob Walton & Family
Denver Broncos

3) Miriam Adelson - Patrick Dumont Familes
Dallas Mavericks

[DallasMaverick]

Welcome our new overlords! The Adelson-Dumont family!

And they are getting busy:



Also, how does this affect the Mavs future roster choices, especially if Cuban is making the decisions on who is being signed for the time being? The Adelson-Dumonts are worth roughly ~40bil. About 10-12 teams worth. Do they care about luxury tax really? 

Yes, they care about the luxury tax.  Not because of the money, of course, but because of the roster-building implications.

[SleepingHero]

Yes, they care about the luxury tax.  Not because of the money, of course, but because of the roster-building implications.

I suppose a better way to phrase would be: do they care about the luxury tax as much as a guy like Ballmer or Lacob? Or more like Reinsdorf?

Obviously being over the 2nd apron is killer for teams. But you want to have an owner who's willing to eat a large bill should the need be there if it means the team will be strong.

Ballmer and Lacob are like that. Reinsdorf is not.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

For all the shit that Cuban gets I think it should be noted that this is now the second arena that he may help get built without taxpayer money.

[SleepingHero]

In what's believed to be largest cash transaction in #NBA history, league approves #MarkCuban’s sale of #DallasMavericks unanimously, with the Dallas billionaire keeping 23% stake. The #Sands' Adelson & Dumont families acquire 73%, @townbrad writes. #MFFL https://t.co/gmBrB0yjrg

So the numbers initially again were off. Cuban gets 23%, not 25%. I suppose these mysterious Dupont folks get the other 4%

[KillerLeft]

In what's believed to be largest cash transaction in #NBA history, league approves #MarkCuban’s sale of #DallasMavericks unanimously, with the Dallas billionaire keeping 23% stake. The #Sands' Adelson & Dumont families acquire 73%, @townbrad writes. #MFFL https://t.co/gmBrB0yjrg

So the numbers initially again were off. Cuban gets 23%, not 25%. I suppose these mysterious Dupont folks get the other 4%

Maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like I read somewhere that part of the deal was the intent to sell them the rest of the shares in like a year?

[SleepingHero]

Statement from our new overlords.

[SleepingHero]

Mark Cuban has been promised ongoing control of basketball operations with the Mavericks.

Yet the sale agreement that establishes the Adelson and Dumont families as Dallas' majority owners does not contain specific language about Cuban's role, league sources tell
@TheSteinLine
The parties, though, have been working on this deal since last season and sources maintain day-to-day basketball operations are not changing.

In a statement Las Vegas Sands says "we look forward to working in partnership with Mark Cuban as stewards of this great franchise …”

@TheSteinLine

[F Gump]

For all the shit that Cuban gets I think it should be noted that this is now the second arena that he may help get built without taxpayer money.

On the AAC, the City of Dallas paid $140M of the $420M total cost. The Mavs and Stars each paid part of the rest (presumably $140M each as well). I would not expect the new arena to be built without taxpayer money either.

"Dallas taxpayers approved a new hotel tax and rental car tax to pay for a new arena to cover a portion of the funding, with the two benefiting teams, the Mavericks and the Stars, picking up the remaining costs, including cost overruns."
----
" The city and both teams worked together as a new hotel and car rental tax was passed, along with the teams paying their share, helping pay for the $420 million arena."
---
6/15/2010  "Thanks to tax revenues that exceeded expectations, the city of Dallas will be retiring debt on American Airlines Center more than 15 years early. The debt — some $140 million, issued in 1998 — was scheduled to be paid off in 2027. However, tax revenue from hotel and car-rental taxes flowed in at a much higher rate than city officials anticipated, giving them the option to pay down early."

[JamesConway912]

That leaves the door open for the end of Cuban playing amateur GM one day. It’s not much but I’ll take it.

Also re the tax discussion: a wise man once said „the numbers don’t lie“. The Mavs had the smallest payroll in the NBA over a multi year period. Like dead last in the entire association. The lack of willingness to go into the tax at least can’t get much worse under the new ownership.

Less Cuban in general leaves a ton of room for improvement. The franchise hasn’t been excellent at anything basically for a dozen years now under his reign. That doesn’t necessarily mean that things can’t go south even more but at least we’ll see some more changes throughout the organization. Personally I’m not mad about that at all.Hopefully the new guys come in with a clear & sound vision how to run things.

[dirkfansince1998]

No one has spotted them at a home game almost one month into the deal. For me that says something about their interest in the bball side of the organization. Might get involved if a bad on court product hurts their business (not creating enough revenue compared to other franchises). Otherwise Cuban can do whatever he wants.

[Winter]

Nothing arena-related will happen for several years as the organization still has eight years left on the AAC current lease as I understand it. New ownership could buy out of the lease if they had a place to move, so the property near Irving that was recently purchased might be that place ... but I suspect that's 4-8 years out if that actually is "the" place for a new arena.

My guess is that we will see no changes to the organization for quite a while. By the time a new arena is built, Cuban may be ready to step down. The basketball operations part of this look like a soft parachute type of handoff.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

On the AAC, the City of Dallas paid $140M of the $420M total cost. The Mavs and Stars each paid part of the rest (presumably $140M each as well). I would not expect the new arena to be built without taxpayer money either.

"Dallas taxpayers approved a new hotel tax and rental car tax to pay for a new arena to cover a portion of the funding, with the two benefiting teams, the Mavericks and the Stars, picking up the remaining costs, including cost overruns."
----
" The city and both teams worked together as a new hotel and car rental tax was passed, along with the teams paying their share, helping pay for the $420 million arena."
---
6/15/2010  "Thanks to tax revenues that exceeded expectations, the city of Dallas will be retiring debt on American Airlines Center more than 15 years early. The debt — some $140 million, issued in 1998 — was scheduled to be paid off in 2027. However, tax revenue from hotel and car-rental taxes flowed in at a much higher rate than city officials anticipated, giving them the option to pay down early."

Oh I’ve been operating an incorrect understanding of this for a while. I thought the AAC was kind of the last arena built without much help but I stand corrected.

[Chicagojk]

The whole thing is weird. I wonder what you would bet is more likely:

a) Cuban stays in this role for 20 years and then retires
b) Cuban grows frustrated and leaves after 5 or so years
c) Cuban is forced out over the next 5 or so years

I am sure there is a lot of protections, but the guys with the most money typically gets their way if disagreements arise.




Tim MacMahon
@espn_macmahon
Mark Cuban acknowledged that Patrick Dumont will have “final say” as the Mavs’ governor. But Cuban says he will run basketball ops with sole goal of winning.

[KillerLeft]

Here it is, right from the horse's mouth. It was about a real estate play, as we thought. 

AND, I suspect Cuban saw that the need to pay tax was approaching in order to maximize the Luka era and simply did not want to be the one on the hook for paying it.

https://x.com/sixfivelando/status/174015...53909?s=20

Mark Cuban: “They’re not basketball people, I’m not real estate people. That’s why I did it. I could’ve got more money selling to someone else, obviously I’m really excited, but it’s a great partnership.”

On luxury tax: “They basically said do what you gotta do, I want to win.”

[KillerLeft]

This clip is EXTREMELY informative:

https://x.com/DorothyJGentry/status/1740...14476?s=20

Mark Cuban on the luxury tax:

"Financially, we're in a far better position this afternoon than we were yesterday afternoon to be able to compete like that." 

Goes on to talk about how he was a "middle class billionaire" and the team needed new and deeper sources of revenue to compete. 

Basically, I think this was Cuban's attempt to compete financially with GS and LAC and whomever else is ready to spend like idiots. He made a bunch of money in the sale, sure, and I think he'll probably make more in the coming real estate maneuvers, but I really do kind of think he felt like the team needed to do this to compete and he couldn't make it happen alone. 

I hope it works, and he's won back some of my respect, tbh.

[hakeemfaan]

As per ESPN
—
Cuban will maintain a 27% stake of the Mavericks' ownership and serve as the team's alternate governor. He acknowledged that there is "no contractual language" in the purchase agreement regarding his authority over basketball operations and that ultimately Dumont would have "final say" as the team's governor.

However, Cuban's expectation is the Dumonts and Adelson will focus on the franchise's business interests
—-

So just like the Mavs approach to team building, Cuban staying on with control is based on hope and a prayer.

I see him starting to get overruled sooner than later once the Adelson family realizes how incompetent Cuban has been at the basketball front.

[KillerLeft]

As per ESPN
—
Cuban will maintain a 27% stake of the Mavericks' ownership and serve as the team's alternate governor. He acknowledged that there is "no contractual language" in the purchase agreement regarding his authority over basketball operations and that ultimately Dumont would have "final say" as the team's governor.

However, Cuban's expectation is the Dumonts and Adelson will focus on the franchise's business interests
—-

So just like the Mavs approach to team building, Cuban staying on with control is based on hope and a prayer.

I see him starting to get overruled sooner than later once the Adelson family realizes how incompetent Cuban has been at the basketball front.

Maybe eventually, but I’m not so sure. 

I have a feeling the new governor will make a show of introducing himself pretty soon, but then Cuban will continue to be the public face of the team for quite a while.

[khaled1987]

The sale of the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban to the Adelson and Dumont families was initially reported at a valuation of $3.5 billion, which was well below expectation for an NBA franchise in one of the biggest markets in the United States.

The deal, however, includes a financial pledge from the Las Vegas Sands Corporation to construct a new arena in Dallas, sources tell Marc Stein. When factoring in the arena construction costs, the valuation is expected to be between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Mark Cuban retains a 27 percent stake in the franchise and control of basketball operations as part of the deal.

Patrick Dumont will take over as governor of the Mavericks.

[ThisIStheYear]

My evolving take as more information comes out: Cuban is the Tex Schramm in this particular situation. He’ll hang around for longer than Tex but in two or three years when the real estate/gambling issues are worked out, the new owners will take over operations as well. Cuban will benefit immensely from the increased valuation of his shares and remain a super fan. He bought the team as a fan and as a fan probably realized he no longer has the financial means to compete in the corporate NBA. He probably trusts the new ownership group to prioritize winning, and based on their history, he’s probably right. As usual, Cuban is acting like a fan (with benefits).