Mark Cuban‘s agreement to sell his majority stake in the Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families has been approved by the league’s Board of Governors, tweets NBA writer Marc Stein. Sources tell Stein that the league’s 29 other owners all voted in favor of the move.
Sands Corp. Chief Operating Officer Patrick Dumont will take over as the Mavericks’ governor with a 73% stake, according to Stein (Twitter link). Cuban will retain a 27% share in the team and becomes alternate governor. The Mavericks’ valuation in the deal is likely to fall between $4 billion and $5 billion with the Sands Corp.’s promise of a new arena being included, Stein adds.
The transaction is expected to close this week, the league announced in a formal statement (Twitter link). Sale documents still have to be signed and money has to be paid to Cuban and the team’s five minority stakeholders who are being bought out in the deal, notes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.
A person familiar with the sale tells Townsend that the franchise is being valued between $3.8 billion and $3.9 billion without the arena considerations. He adds that it’s believed to be the largest pure cash transaction in the history of the league as Miriam Adelson sold $2 billion in Sands stock to help finance the deal.
Cuban was expected to retain control of basketball operations when news that he was selling broke in late November, and those provisions are being included in the sale documents, another source tells Townsend. Cuban purchased the team for $285MM in 2000.
[UPDATE: Cuban’s Control Of Mavs’ Basketball Ops Not Formalized In Sale]
With an estimated fortune of $33 billion, the Adelson and Dumont families will become the NBA’s second wealthiest owners, Townsend states, behind only the Clippers’ Steve Ballmer. Townsend adds that Cuban’s estimated worth of $6.2 billion and his high profile around the league will continue to serve as assets for the franchise.
The league office streamlined the voting process as a show of support for the new owners, Townsend tweets. A source tells him that the league recommended approval of the sale, then it passed unanimously through a BOG executive committee before today’s vote was taken.
Selling a team to a family that makes most of their money from gambling may not be the best idea.
The family believes that the long term plan is Texas will eventually open up gambling and the idea is to put casinos and entertainment entities within the Mavs arena complex, be that at American Airlines Center or another destination within the Metroplex.
There has already been questions on gambling in sports affecting the outcome of games and point spreads this only puts the NBA under a even bigger microscope. Hmm a arena full of gamblers and casino owners what could go wrong?
They also are one of Trumps biggest donors so you know that never has gone wrong with a league that supports BLM…
Kinda f***ed when the rich billionaire that owns your team donates money to causes that hurt your cultural roots.
A lot of rich elite owners are trump fans. Even John Fisher A’s owner put out more in donations to far right extremist than spending on his own players.
Sadly, most rich people who own sports teams are, politically, terrible. It’s pretty much every MLB owner, NFL owner, most NHL owners at minimum.
I started boycotting MLB a few years ago when I found out they were sending money to all members of congress on both sides to keep their anti-trust exemption in tact. Your ticket cost goes directly into politician pockets.
I don’t understand why Mark Cuban sold a team! wasn’t one of the big things about him he was a Maverick fan growing up and he was able to buy it and in the early 2000s when he took over and they won the championship and 2011 he was like a child on Christmas morning. I’m just stunned that he sold the team granted I haven’t kept up with it over the years so is there a reason he sold it?
Cuban is selling more than 10x what he paid for the franchise, and he’s still maintaining control over the basketball side. It’s honestly a huge win for him. Plus, regardless of if he is a majority owner, or not, I think he’ll always be viewed as the “face of the franchise” for the Mavs.
Cuban isn’t winning. Yeah sure he made some cash, but now he’s beholden to an even bigger scum bag billionaire than he is.
Money. These people are business first, everything else second.
There are 4Billion reasons why!
Someone wanted some walking around money.
Be a lot of work to carry around 4B dollars. Lol
People should really pay attention to who these new owners are, how they made their money, and what causes they support. I don’t think as fans we should be applauding this move or these people.
I’m glad I’m not a Mavs fan…
#FreeLuka