Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is selling a majority stake of the franchise to Miriam Adelson and her family for a valuation in the range of $3.5 billion, league sources said. Cuban, however, will retain shares in the team and full control of basketball operations.
Adelson, the largest shareholder of Las Vegas Sands, announced Tuesday she was selling $2 billion worth of stock in the company. This is approximately 10 percent of her stake.
“We have been advised by the Selling Stockholders that they currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, along with additional cash on hand, to fund the purchase of a majority interest in a professional sports franchise pursuant to a binding purchase agreement, subject to customary league approvals,” Las Vegas Sands said in the SEC filing.
Cuban purchased the Mavericks for $285 million in January 2000.
Dallas is the forth largest metro area in Northern America and had the third highest attendance in the league last season; it doesn’t make much sense for the NBA to let a successful team with a long history in a coveted market move to Vegas. If they did they’d then have another move on their hands as at least half a dozen teams scrambled to move to the vacant arena sitting in Dallas.