Jul 10, 2026
Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban filed a court petition this week against majority owner Patrick Dumont related to a real estate deal for the site of the team’s new arena.
In the petition, filed in a Texas court, Cuban made allegations of “adversarial business practices” against Dumont, who is also the team’s governor. He also asked for access to details of the deal to build a new arena at a North Dallas site known as Valley View — in which Cuban says he was “contractually entitled to participate.”
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According to MavsRoundtable.com, which viewed the filing paperwork, the petition says that Cuban “seeks information regarding the financing of a new Dallas Mavericks arena at Valley View and the exploration and identification of locations for the new arena, among other things.”
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It adds that the “pursuit of business opportunities related to the Dallas Mavericks and their new arena may improperly interfere with [Cuban’s] existing Texas contracts and related rights.”
The Dallas Morning News reports that, despite selling his majority ownership stake in the company, Cuban retains a 27% minority stake that he believes includes maintaining control over basketball operations — an agreement reportedly made via a handshake deal with Dumont. Instead, Cuban says, Dumont gave that job to former team general manager Nico Harrison.
The outlet added that Cuban’s petition could disrupt the Valley View deal if it leads to a lawsuit.
A partnership built on basketball and a bet on Dallas real estate
Cuban wouldn’t be the first person to go to court to resolve an issue with a professional sports team they co-own.
The NBA’s Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, for one, agreed to confidential mediation earlier this year with two minority owners after suing each other in 2025 over Ishbia’s transparency and alleged treatment of the franchise like a “personal piggy bank.”
Cuban’s fight, however, holds financial implications bigger than the team itself, as it’s tied to the “unique investment opportunity” presented by the Valley View deal.
Cuban sold his majority ownership stake in the Mavericks in 2023 to the Dumont and Adelson families — the latter of which are the billionaire owners of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire headed by Miriam Adelson. Her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, founded the family business.
At the time Cuban called the deal “a partnership. They’re not basketball people. I’m not real estate people. That’s why I did it.”
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Cuban had previously helped the Adelsons lobby the state of Texas to legalize gambling — which it hasn’t yet — and, shortly after the Mavs sale, Dumont told investors that “we’d like the opportunity to develop some very unique tourism assets, specifically in Dallas. We think that’s a great market, we’ve been very focused on it.”
In June of this year, the Mavericks announced the 104-acre Valley View real estate purchase as an “opportunity to create a vibrant mixed-use destination anchored by a state-of-the-art arena, along with restaurants, entertainment options, public green spaces and family-friendly experiences.”
Cuban says he was shut out of the deal, alleging in the court petition that he only learned about it after seeing the public SEC filing.
The complaint follows previous contentions between the majority and minority owners, including the trade of superstar Luka Dončić last year — a trade made by Harrison. Cuban alleged that when he spoke with Dumont about it given his supposed oversight over basketball operations, the majority owner said “Why would I give you control of a $4 billion asset?”
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Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News noted that Cuban’s deal for the majority ownership sale of the Mavs included an option for the Adelsons and Dumonts to purchase 20% of his 27% stake, adding that “in a statement, the families said they ‘look forward’ to expanding their stake.”
Neither Cuban nor representatives for the Mavericks organization replied to Moneywise’s request for comment.
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Why sports owners are betting billions beyond the stadium
Deals like the one for the Mav’s mixed-use Valley View site are becoming increasingly common in sports, as more franchise owners see the revenue potential beyond the team’s fortunes.
“Every time you get a new stadium, an owner wants to get real estate with it and the rights to develop everything around,” Geoffrey Propheter, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver, told CNN. “They can make more money with development rights than they can operating the stadium by itself.”
Numerous recent examples abound of districts built around stadiums for professional baseball and football teams that include restaurants, stores, entertainment, hotels and, in one case, “an artificial lake.”
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Last year, Henry Samueli, billionaire owner of the NHL’s Anaheim Mighty Ducks, committed $1 billion to the construction of the OCVibe district around the team’s new arena, which Forbes noted includes “a 50,000-square-foot food hall, two live event venues, five restaurants, two hotels, a public transit station and 20 acres of parks and plazas.”
A 2025 RBC Wealth Management report called “sports-anchored, mixed-use districts (SMDs)” a “rapidly emerging strategy for numerous sports leagues, teams and executives to empower the continued growth of league and franchise values and enhance financial returns.”
Their research found that the internal rate of return “ranges from 9.88% to 27.3%” while offering “higher franchise valuations for current and prospective sports franchise owners.”
Then, of course, there’s this additional perk for owners: unlike league revenue, RBC noted that, “SMD income typically escapes revenue-sharing and collective bargaining agreements, meaning any additional profits benefit individual franchises.”
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Mike Crisolago is a Sr. Staff Reporter at Moneywise with nearly 20 years of experience working as a journalist, editor, content strategist and podcast host. He specializes in personal finance writing related to the 50-plus demographic and retirement, as well as politics and lifestyle content.
