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Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agreed to sell a majority stake in his NBA franchise to Miriam Adelson, the widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and her family. Multiple people with knowledge of the agreement confirmed this to The Washington Post on Tuesday.
Cuban, a 65-year-old entrepreneur and reality TV star who co-founded Broadcast.com, bought the Mavericks in 2000 for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr. as part of the conditional sale to the Adelsons After approval by the NBA’s Board of Governors, Cuban will retain an ownership stake and maintain control of basketball operations. The Associated Press reported that the agreement would be worth about $3.5 billion. Marc Stein and The Athletic previously reported on the terms of the contract.
Sheldon Adelson founded Las Vegas Sands, an international gaming company that included the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and real estate in Asia. He died in 2021 at the age of 87. Miriam Adelson, 78, and her family remain major shareholders in Las Vegas Sands, and the Israeli-born doctor and newspaper publisher is the fifth-richest woman in the United States with a net worth of $32.8 billion. according to a recent estimate from Forbes.
In an SEC filing released Tuesday, the Adelson family said it would sell $2 billion in Las Vegas Sands stock to “finance the purchase of a controlling interest in a professional sports franchise pursuant to a binding purchase agreement.” “.
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According to the Dallas Morning News, Cuban, whose net worth is estimated at $6.2 billion, said last year that he hoped to “partner” with Las Vegas Sands to build a new arena and resort complex, even though sports betting is not legal in Texas . The Mavericks have played at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas since 2001.
An NBA spokesman declined to comment on the agreement Tuesday evening. The Mavericks referred questions about the agreement to the Adelson family, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Mavericks, who missed the playoffs every year from 1991 to 2000, were transformed by Cuba’s arrival. Hall of Fame forward Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas to its first championship in 2011, and the team reached the playoffs in 18 of the last 23 seasons.
While Cuban has endured a long list of fines as owner for everything from complaining about officials to overseeing a season-ending offensive tackle, he is credited with modernizing the Mavericks by improving team facilities and focusing on amenities focused that appeal to players. Dallas acquired franchise guard Luka Doncic in a draft-day trade in 2018, traded for All-Star guard Kyrie Irving this February and entered Tuesday’s game against Houston with a 10-6 record. During much of his time as owner, Cuban starred on the ABC series “Shark Tank,” but announced Monday that he will be leaving the series after the upcoming season.
The value of NBA franchises has skyrocketed over the last decade, and the agreement between Cuban and the Adelson family follows several other recent transactions. Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam agreed to buy a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks in April. NBA legend Michael Jordan agreed to sell a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin in June. In July, Qatar Investment Authority acquired a 5 percent stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the ownership group that oversees the Washington Wizards, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
In an interview with Showtime Basketball last week, Cuban expressed reservations about the NBA’s long-term financial position given the changing media landscape from traditional television to streaming services.
“Remember, no one would buy New Orleans in 2010 [the franchise] and the league had to take it on,” Cuban said. “I’m not saying it will be that way, but the point is that it’s not automatic that everything will always get better.”
Ava Wallace contributed to this report.