Las Vegas Sands executive talks for first time about Mavericks ownership

DALLAS — It’s been more than 10 weeks since news broke of the Dallas Mavericks’ sale and about seven weeks since the NBA ratified it, but the franchise’s new governor, Patrick Dumont, publicly has remained silent, unseen. A mystery man.

Until now.

Dumont this past week spoke exclusively to The Dallas Morning News about all things Mavericks — including arena scenarios — at last bringing perspective, candor and surprisingly fresh emotion to what he calls the honor of succeeding Mark Cuban as governor.

“The fact that we’re even talking about this, it feels like I need to pinch myself,” he said.

The mere sound of Dumont’s voice felt newsworthy after weeks of suspense and intrigue. In contrast to Cuban’s big persona and pop culture visibility, little is known about Dumont, 49, other than he is chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. and son-in-law of Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sands’ largest shareholder.

It is physician and philanthropist Adelson, 78, who has a higher profile than Dumont as a Republican Party megadonor and America’s fifth-most wealthy woman. It was her sale of $2 billion of Sands stock that largely funded the cash purchase of a majority stake in the Mavericks, at a $3.9 billion valuation.

Moments into Dumont’s 30-minute interview with The News, it became clear the Mavericks aren’t merely a portfolio addition to the Adelson-Dumont empire, but, rather, the realization of a decadelong passion to buy an NBA franchise.

How passionate? Dumont said his Nevada household is now “electric” with Mavericks fandom. Exhibit A is the night of Jan. 26, when he, wife Sivan and their children gathered to watch a seemingly ordinary Mavericks game in Atlanta.

“When Luka scored 73,” Dumont said with a laugh, “I thought our house might fall down, with everyone screaming so loud.”

Buying a franchise that has Luka Doncic certainly carries the fringe benefit of extra wonder and excitement. It’s perhaps a relief for fans to know Dumont isn’t like Ross Perot Jr., who showed little enthusiasm for basketball during his 1996 to 2000 ownership tenure. Still, big questions remain.

Who exactly is Patrick Dumont and what are his plans for the 44-year-old franchise? How much will we see of Miriam Adelson? Will Cuban, as he’s publicly asserted, continue to oversee basketball operations despite owning 27% of the team, compared to Adelson-Dumont’s 69%?

Who ultimately will make basketball decisions? And business decisions? Will the Mavericks honor their American Airlines Center lease, which doesn’t expire until 2031? Or might they build Cuban’s long-dreamed arena-resort-casino development?

If the latter occurs, will it be built in Dallas or a neighboring suburb, perhaps on the 108-acre Irving site purchased last July by an entity connected to Sands Corp.?

The biggest question of all: Why? Why did the Adelson-Dumont families, who amassed their Forbes-estimated $36 billion worth in the resort and casino industry, buy an NBA franchise in a state that doesn’t have legalized gambling and might not for years, if ever?

“As a family, we’ve been wanting to be part of the Texas business community,” Dumont said. “We think it’s a great place to be. Dallas is a growing city. There’s a lot of positive factors in Dallas from the perspective of owning an NBA franchise.

“It’s probably a top-five market; could easily go into the top four in the next couple of years. … And it was incredibly compelling to us to invest with Mark and go ahead and do this. For us, the public company is something that we really focus on, but this was a family decision.”

Basketball

Brooklyn-raised Dumont says he has been a huge NBA fan since childhood, when he and neighborhood friends played and seemingly spoke of basketball nonstop.

“If you saw someone with a baseball hat on,” he said, “it was an NBA team’s hat.”

Which further begs the question: Why would a Johns Hopkins and Columbia Business School educated COO of a dynamic global company take a passive ownership role in anything, especially as a basketball-loving governor of an NBA team for which his family just paid an enormous sum of cash?

Answer: He isn’t.

Last week was frenetic and fruitful for the Mavericks’ basketball brain trust. In a pair of roster-reshaping trades, Dallas acquired center Daniel Gafford from Washington and forward P.J. Washington from Charlotte.

Mavericks third-year general manager Nico Harrison says he kept Dumont informed throughout, initially explaining roster needs, the abilities of specific trade targets — and potential salary cap and roster-maneuvering implications.

Like Dumont, Harrison has a corporate background, working his way up the ranks for two decades at Nike before Cuban hired him. Harrison said working with Dumont has been inspiring, that their basketball discussions often segue to leadership philosophies.

“Part of being a servant leader is that you empower your team to do the right thing, within the guidelines that you set forth,” Harrison said. “Yes, he definitely asks the right questions. He’s inquisitive, but also is empowering me to make the right decisions for the franchise.”

Dumont speaks glowingly of Harrison and Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall and their respective teams.

Publicly, until now, Dumont’s only comments about the Mavericks were in press releases, but privately he’s been making personal connections throughout the franchise.

“I have to tell you, I think Nico Harrison is incredibly talented,” Dumont said. “He keeps me updated on everything. It’s a pleasure to work with him.

“I feel like I’ve worked with him for a decade. It’s a very natural thing. He’s a great talent and I have complete faith in what he’s doing with the team, so we talk about a whole variety of matters.”

Harrison said because Las Vegas Sands Corp. and family obligations have thus far prevented Dumont from coming to Dallas, much of what is known about him within the organization, including players and coaches, has been spread through word of mouth.

“I think they’re excited and curious,” Harrison said. “Which is a good thing.”

The News spoke to roughly 10 employees about virtual meetings with Dumont, and a prevailing adjective emerged.

Nice.

“What strikes me about Patrick is his genuine excitement and engagement when we talk about big ideas and taking our business to a new level,” Marshall said. “We’ve talked a lot, and he knows the importance of investing in the city and making a difference in our community.

“Patrick has already spent time with some of our team members and they can tell how supportive he is, even over Zoom. His excitement is contagious. Our fans should be enthusiastic about getting to know him. Patrick is all in.”

Cuban’s involvement

Where does Cuban, after 24 years of hands-on ownership, fit in the new hierarchy?

When Cuban said in multiple interviews that he was retaining oversight over basketball operations, he also consistently emphasized that, naturally, Dumont will have final say in big decisions.

“I’m sure we will work it out,” he said, adding of Dumont and Adelson: “They’re not basketball people; I’m not a real estate person. That’s why I did it.”

When asked to describe the Mavericks’ basketball flowchart, Dumont noted that he and Cuban have in the past worked together on multiple fronts and have a history of collaboration. He also noted that The Venetian in Las Vegas, at the time owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., hosted a season of “Shark Tank” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have a tremendous respect and appreciation for everything Mark has done to build the team, what he’s done for the organization and the success that they’ve achieved,” Dumont said.

“I think what’s important is that when a lot of NBA teams sell, it’s a change-in-control transaction. And you lose the benefit of all the good things — and to be fair, all the learning and some of the mistakes that were made in prior ownership.

“The great thing about this is there’s continuity in stewardship. Mark still owns a meaningful piece of the team. We will work together. … Listen, I love working with Mark. I think he’s great.”

But?

“The way the structure works, just formally, is that I am the governor. The league wants one person to speak to, so that’s me. But I intend to get the benefit of Mark’s experience and his success. So working with him is actually a benefit to our organization. That’s how I see it.

“Nico Harrison is the GM. He is the head of basketball operations. So we all get the benefit of working with Mark, but there’s one GM. That’s Nico. … So in some ways we get the best of both worlds.

“You have the benefit of an owner that’s won a championship,” Dumont continued. That’s our goal: To continue winning championships for the city of Dallas. … But at the end of the day, we have ultimate responsibilities.”

Adelsons and current arena

And what about Miriam Adelson, a savvy and dynamic personality in her own right?

She was married to Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder Sheldon Adelson from 1991 until his death in 2021. Her second daughter from her first marriage, Sivan Ochshorn, married Dumont in 2009.

Dumont describes Miriam as a huge basketball fan who likely will attend “a bunch” of Mavericks games. Known as a stylish dresser, she’s already had a Mavericks-themed dress designed for her inaugural American Airlines Center appearance as majority owner.

“The NBA is just a great experience,” Dumont said. “I think Dr. Adelson feels that way also. I don’t want to speak for her, but she’s very excited and will be supportive.”

When Cuban, 65, explained his reasons for selling the franchise but maintaining a significant stake, he touted Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s infrastructure and know-how to build and operate the kind of large-scale entertainment complex that he and Dumont and Adelson have envisioned for more than a year.

After the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale on Dec. 27, Cuban said he believed the Adelson-Dumont ownership was prepared to build a new arena-resort as soon as feasible, with the ability to add a casino if Texas legalizes gambling.

That definitive declaration again sparked questions about the future of American Airlines Center, in which the Mavericks are co-tenants with the NHL Stars.

“First and foremost, we have a lease that goes for another eight years with the city,” Dumont said. “And we intend to honor that lease.”

Dumont said he looks forward to sitting down with Stars leadership to get its arena vision. American Airlines Center in the past two years has undergone $20 million in upgrades. Stars CEO Brad Alberts in September told The News that the team’s strong preference is to remain in American Airlines Center, but that the venue still needs significant modernizing.

Before a Mavericks home game two weeks ago, a Las Vegas Sands Corp. facilities expert toured the arena with Marshall and American Airlines Center General Manager Dave Brown.

“What I’d like to believe is we’re going to invest in this arena and do some work there in its current form,” Dumont said. “Try to improve the hospitality experience that our fans receive, so that they enjoy the games more.

“That’s something that we can do in the near-term. That is the business that we’re in today and we feel like we can do that in a way that will be good for the city and good for the arena.”

Long-term arena-resort plans

Beyond the immediate goal of improving American Airlines Center, Dumont said it’s extremely premature to speculate about a timetable for another potential arena.

But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t imagined the possibilities. One of two options, he said, is to meet with the Stars and Dallas community leaders and consider what to do about American Airlines Center when the lease expires in July 2031.

The other?

“We believe very strongly that there’s an opportunity to develop destination resorts in the state of Texas, at some point, over the next years,” Dumont said. “I don’t know how long it will be; I couldn’t tell you, but I’m hopeful about it. People tell us that they would like to see it happen, which is nice. It feels like we have good support from certain areas.

“When that does happen, there might be an opportunity for us to build a brand-new arena for the Mavericks as part of an entertainment complex that’s large-scale, in a destination resort, with hotel rooms and space for both business and leisure tourism.”

Dumont compared the concept to Las Vegas’ Venetian, the first hotel Sheldon Adelson and Sands opened in 1999, at a cost of $1.5 billion, on the site of the demolished Sands Hotel. Las Vegas Sands Corp. also constructed the neighboring Venetian Expo Center, and the combined footprint dramatically boosted Las Vegas as a convention and tourism destination.

“There’s a lot of things we can do with the city of Dallas to enhance business-tourism appeal,” Dumont said. “Dallas is a great business city; I don’t have to tell you. There’s so many strong American businesses headquartered there.

“The opportunity to work with them to facilitate business-to-tourism and business growth, I think, is a unique opportunity.”

And what about the arena component?

“We’ll have a business and leisure asset, and the leisure side will be like a Las Vegas-style destination resort with top chefs, dining, culinary nightclubs — all the things that go along with a Vegas leisure experience. And in the city of Dallas we would do that and then have an arena that ties into that and creates a greater fan experience.

“There’s always a dream that people have, where you can stay in a top-flight hotel room and then go down in an elevator bank, get something to eat and then walk into the arena and it’s all one space. … If we can create a home for the Dallas Mavericks where that’s a possibility, I think that would be pretty good.”

Notice that Dumont consistently referred to “Dallas.” Sands officials previously told The News that there are no specific plans for the 108-acre Irving site, although its sheer size and accessibility has obvious upside.

“There’s a lot to explore,” Dumont said. “There’s a lot of things we have to discuss with the local community. There’s location to figure out. But it would be an interesting outcome a decade from now, 15 years from now, depending on how long it takes. There’s a lot of things that would have to happen.”

Clearly the Mavericks’ new governor not only has big ideas; but he also plans to remain the boss for the foreseeable future, though he prefers the titles “governor” and “steward.”

Mystery man? Buckle up. He’s barely started to make his presence known.

The Review-Journal is owned by Patrick and Sivan Dumont and Dr. Miriam Adelson.