Irving politicians have a plan to allow an arena to be built in town.
Irving, Texas wants to be a major league town again and the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks franchise is the object of Irving’s desire. The Irving City Council has approved some zoning amendments that could pave the way for the construction of an arena-village. The majority of the Mavericks business is owned by Miriam Adelson, who is the largest shareholder of the Mavericks and her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, who is the Sands Corporation’s COO. The zoning changes would apply to the 182-acre property, which coincidentally, is owned by an entity connected to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
The zoning changes would allow “an arena with a minimum of 15,000 seats and/or an indoor theater with a minimum of 4,000 seats” on the property. Additionally, there could be one or more luxury hotels, spas, pools and “may include Casino Gaming if authorized by the Constitution and laws of the state of Texas” within the property. Other arena-village entities that could sprout up on the property include a convention center, heliport/air taxi pad, restaurants, food truck park and indoor recreation “including but not limited to an athletic training facility.” There is no word on how any of the proposed arena-village would be funded and it is probably too early in the arena game for costs to be released. The Mavericks ownership lease deal with Dallas for the use of the Dallas’ sports arena ends in 2031 so there is a long way to go. Prior to the NBA’s approval of the Adelson-Dumont Mavericks purchase on December 27th, 2023, the Dallas Morning News reported that an entity connected to Sands Corporation had in July purchased 108 acres in Irving for use. There has been some speculation that the Mavericks business would leave Dallas. The franchise owners put out a statement denying the team was moving to Las Vegas. The Irving arena game is on.
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Miriam Adelson
