{"id":242658,"date":"2026-04-09T22:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/242658\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:15:09","slug":"mavs-ceo-expands-on-new-arena-plans-reaffirms-commitment-to-keeping-team-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/242658\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavs CEO expands on new arena plans, reaffirms commitment to keeping team in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">DALLAS &#8211; The Dallas Mavericks&#8217; CEO expanded on the team&#8217;s search for a new arena location in a meeting with Dallas business leaders on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/040926-mavs-ceo-dallas-business-meeting-qt-430-vs_00.02.38.12.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts <\/p>\n<p>    &#8220;We will be in Dallas&#8221; <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">At a North Dallas Chamber of Commerce meeting, Mavs CEO Rick Welts reaffirmed the team&#8217;s commitment to keeping their new arena in Dallas city limits.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;We have made that commitment that we will be in Dallas,&#8221; Welts said. &#8220;Unthinkable that there isn&#8217;t an opportunity for us to be there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/040926-mavs-ceo-dallas-business-meeting-qt-430-vs_00.02.08.54.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The team is looking for a 50-acre site that could house the new arena, the team&#8217;s corporate headquarters, a practice facility, an entertainment district with restaurants and hotels, and an additional performance venue that can be programmed for over 100 days a year.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Welts continued by saying the Mavericks no longer want to share an arena with the Dallas Stars because of a need for better sight lines for their basketball court, something a hockey rink does not allow for.<\/p>\n<p> Expanded search <\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Welts also referenced the March 4 Dallas City Council meeting where city leaders voted to explore options for leaving Dallas City Hall. He said he watched around half of the 16-hour meeting, and that the team plans on submitting a proposal to the city for redeveloping the site.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;We love the idea of a downtown site.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">He also expanded on his recent comments about having conversations with the City of Dallas for over a year about using the Dallas City Hall site for the new arena, reiterating that Kim Tolbert, the Dallas City Manager, was the one who approached the team.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/040926-mavs-ceo-dallas-business-meeting-qt-430-vs_00.00.58.06.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;I can&#8217;t say enough about how great the city has been in dealing with us,&#8221; Welts said. &#8220;They&#8217;re the ones who brought forth many, many sites.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">However, he also said the sites referenced in a recent survey sent out by the team are not the only locations being considered to build their new arena on.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;These two sites are not the only places this could be built,&#8221; Welts continued. &#8220;We continue to discuss other sites.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Welts did not elaborate on any other potential locations during the meeting.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Welts told an audience last month that he and the Dallas City Manager had conversations regarding the team using the current City Hall site &#8220;over a year ago.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;Listen over a year ago, City Manager Tolbert came to us and said, \u2018Look, I gotta move out of City Hall, I can\u2019t afford to operate what we do in that building, going forward for the taxpayers,&#8221; Welts said.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">An invite-only survey was sent to members of Club Maverick this week, asking for opinions on potential new arena locations in Downtown Dallas, North Dallas and a regional suburban location.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The downtown location seems to reference the Dallas City Hall site, while the North Dallas location points to where Valley View Mall once stood at I-635 and Preston Road in Far North Dallas.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The survey also included images of Chase Center in San Francisco, an arena Welts oversaw the construction of during his time as COO of the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The Mavericks&#8217; lease with their current arena, the American Airlines Center, expires in 2031. Welts says the team wants to have their new arena&#8217;s location selected by July.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;We are on the clock, and whether or not that&#8217;s gonna come to fruition is really gonna be where we can get with the city between now and July, and try to figure out if there&#8217;s a path forward there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The team&#8217;s 2025-26 season ends on April 12 against the Chicago Bulls in Dallas. They were eliminated from playoff contention on March 23 after an overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">As for Dallas City Hall, City Manager Tolbert will brief city council members in late May on the site&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this story comes from a North Texas Chamber of Commerce meeting and previous FOX 4 coverage.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/nba\/mavericks\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Mavericks<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/sports\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/nba\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS &#8211; The Dallas Mavericks&#8217; CEO expanded on the team&#8217;s search for a new arena location in a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,4281,3080,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-242658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-mavericks","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}