Mark Cuban sold a 72.3% ownership stake of the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson family in December of 2023. While a substantial amount of money, the $3.5 billion that Cuban reportedly secured from the Adelsons potentially undervalued the team. When asked why Cuban sold the team when he did and for a “discounted” price, Cuban stated, “And so you see other teams in all sports…talking about doing real estate development. That’s just not me. I wasn’t going to put up $2 billion to get an education on building. If we’re able to build a Venetian-type casino in Dallas with an American Airlines Center in the middle of it, the valuation is $20 billion. But I own 27% of that.”
What Cuban is outlining is the growing importance of sports-anchored districts (SADs). Sports venues that “anchor” surrounding commercial, residential, retail, infrastructure, and community developments have the potential to fundamentally change the sports industry generally and sports teams specifically.
In a special episode Brice interviews Adam about his contribution to a paper he authored in conjunction with Klutch Sports Group and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) about The Rise of Sports Venue Builds and Sports-Anchored Districts.