ICYMI: Dallas Mavericks Embracing the Cooper Flagg Era

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1:58Carol Massar:It happened just about a month ago as about 6 ,000 people watched from the stands of the American Airlines Center as the team selected Duke University's Cooper flag with the top pick in the NBA's draft. Well, we've got a lot to talk about, and we've got the perfect guest. Rick Welts is with us. He's the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. And we also have with us Bloomberg News Texas Bureau Chief Julie Fine, both of them in our Dallas Bureau. Julie, Rick, great to have you here with Tim and myself. Rick, got to start with Cooper Flagg. You were with him when he first got to Dallas. The team had such a slim, slim chance of getting that first draft pick.

2:34Carol Massar:How has he kind of melded into the organization so far? Would you call a slim chance 1.8 %? Super slim. Of chances, super slim. He's been great. He arrived in town with his parents, his brother, grandparents. You know, he's a testament to great parenting. I experienced that at Golden State, my last job with Steph Curry and what great parenting can mean. He's the most decorated 18-year-old in the history of the game of basketball at this point, coming in with incredibly high expectations. But really, everything you could see being around him for a few days, from mindset, from attitude, from work ethic.

3:21Everything you can see gives you a lot of hope. He's going to be everything that basketball fans expect him to be and maybe a little more. You know, Rick, he comes here to Dallas after a pretty tumultuous time for the franchise. At this point, from a business sense, are you doing okay? Did you lose season ticket holders? How about sponsorships? So I got here January 1st. You know, I'm here because Dallas is such an amazing market. The history of fan support here is just incredible. We have an expression here, Mavs fans for life. And I walked into that trying to, you know, just being thrilled to represent the Mavericks in this market.

4:02But trading Luka, which happened on February 1st, pretty much broke the Internet. And it was not something that our fans expected. And certainly not something that they embraced. And so we went through 100 days of grieving, you know, with our fan base, understanding what this kid meant to Dallas. But, you know, now with Cooper here, I think the focus again on the future sponsors are probably ringing our phone a little bit more than we've ever had before. Season ticket holders are back in greater numbers than they were last season. So, so far, so good. You know, we talked a little bit earlier about time in forgiveness.

4:43after something like that happens. I mean, now when you look back a few months later and moving forward, how do you feel? Feeling great. You know, we're going to start the season with three number one historic, three number one picks. Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Cooper Flagg, all number one in the NBA draft. A third, another future Hall of Famer in addition to Anthony and Kyrie is Clay Thompson. We're feeling great about the team that we're going to field next year, and we're feeling great about the momentum that Cooper has brought to the Mavericks. Rick, apart from winning, how else can you continue to rebuild or redevelop that trust between the organization and the fan base?

5:29You know, I think that's a great question. I think what I'm walking into is an organization that probably has set the standard in terms of community engagement. not rehashing the past but the Mavericks had a had a pretty existential crisis six seven years ago when there were a lot of media coverage of what was really a broken culture here at the Mavericks Sint Marshall came in as chief executive officer at the time and spent the last six seven years rebuilding the relationship between fans civic organizations religious organizations government organizations in Dallas and the Mavericks. It became a point of pride again to be associated with the Mavericks.

6:13So that reservoir of goodwill still exists. We're going to combine that with that time-tested formula of time and winning. And I think it gives us a reason to be super optimistic. By the way, at a time when we're talking about building a brand new arena and entertainment district in the city of Dallas that'll be home for the Mavericks for decades to come.

6:37Carol Massar:And Rick, we want to talk about the arena. I got to go back though to Luca. And I'm just curious, like we've all done things where we're like, if I could do that over. And you talked about the hundred days of grieving. Do you have any regrets or did you learn anything, especially, you know, based on your fan reaction? But first of all, any regrets in making the trade? You can't have fear or regrets in this business, right? It's all about how you move forward. And, you know, so it doesn't really serve a purpose to have regrets. What I will say, I learned about the depth of the connection between Mavericks fans and this team.

7:15And that, to me, was glass half full because I knew we could restore that over time. I didn't think it would happen quite as quickly, perhaps, as this happened. I would also say I'm incredibly proud of how the organization presented itself for Luca's first game back at American Airlines Center when he was a Los Angeles Laker. I think if you watch that game, it was an opportunity for fans to say thank you. I think you saw the emotion on Luca's face. You saw the way that night unfolded in tributes to Luca. I think he'll always be such a big part of the history here. and you know we wish him nothing but good luck but we also hope we beat his team every time we

7:59Carol Massar:play him so do well but not too well we get it you know i want to touch back on the stadium your current lease is up in 2030 so i know you're looking for new spaces how committed are you to doing it in the city of dallas so we publicly said that we are going to exhaust every opportunity to place the new Mavericks Arena in the city limits of Dallas. That's 100 % of our focus right now, working with the city manager's office and the mayor's office, identifying potential sites, evaluating those sites for how they work for transportation, how they work for accessibility to our season ticket base. So we're in it all the way with Dallas.

8:41I expect we're going to be successful in finding that location. When do you think you will have an announcement by when we've located this? Are you putting a deadline on yourself? Well, I know six years sounds like a long time. In my view, we're on the clock. It takes this long to build a project of the magnitude that we're talking about building. This isn't just an arena. This is a 35 to 40 acre entertainment district. It'll have hotels. It'll have all kinds of restaurant options. It'll have other things that fans are going to do when they attend a Mavericks game. And it'll be the most amazing place ever to watch an NBA basketball game.

9:15So we're on the clock. We're hoping that by the end of this calendar year at the latest first quarter next year that we'll be able to have a flag in the ground, if you'll excuse the expression of where the new Mavericks arena. Rick, the building of stadiums throughout the country has been a pretty fraught process over the last couple of decades. In Buffalo, the state of New York kicked in funds for a new stadium. Kansas City is working on state funding, but in both instances, taxpayers had a lot to say about billionaires getting their money. Is this stadium going to be a private project? Well, certainly the majority of it would be a private project.

9:52It depends on where we land, what the challenges are going to be from a transportation and infrastructure standpoint. I think one very fair ask everywhere in projects like this is that the city or whatever the governmental entity is assists in helping fans get there and helping create an infrastructure that works really well. But I don't expect the level of funding that you've seen in some of the other projects. And we're not asking for that. We actually haven't asked for anything at this point. It's going to be very site-specific on the things that the city could do or is prepared to do. It'll have to be something that's very acceptable to the city government of Dallas, whatever that might be.

10:34Carol Massar:All right. Acceptable. So do you think that they might change the whole state, if you will, when it comes to gambling? And I only bring that up because Bloomberg News did talk with Patrick Dumont. And when he first bought the club, he wants to see gambling in the state. They're spending money on lobbyists. We know gambling is illegal in Texas. But you talked about this new stadium, this new arena being an incredible entertainment space. Would gambling, would you like to see gambling be a part of it? The two are absolutely not connected in any way. This project going forward is 100 % focused on creating a sports entertainment district.

11:10that does not include a casino or gambling component. So we're full speed ahead with that. That's the Sands Corporation. This is the Dallas Mavericks. And we have a project that we envision that does not include any sort of gambling component. You know, oftentimes when you talk about the NBA, then you go to the WNBA. And I frequently hear people saying, oh, the WNBA is having a moment. The WNBA has been around for a while, But now there's a lot of new eyes on it. And of course, Paige Beckers here in Dallas, along with Cooper Flagg. But with your experience working in the WNBA, what's your reaction to what we are seeing now in terms of the growth?

11:51You know, I'm smiling because I can't you know how I feel about the WNBA. I was at the NBA league office and was critical part of launching the WNBA. I love everything that's happening right now. I will say, you know, taking a step back, this is a 28 year overnight success. OK, this isn't something that just happened. And I I'm so happy for the players, the executives, the coaches that over the last 28 years have built a foundation that has allowed a Caitlin Clark and a Paige Beckers to come in now and ignite the kind of interest and enthusiasm there is around the WNBA. You know, we're seeing now with all leagues media rights in the way of the future.

12:35I mean, the Mavs, you have a local, you show the games locally, but you also have Mavs TV. What do you envision the future of media being for basketball? Well, Julie, you're hitting on the biggest local issue that we have right now in the economics of the NBA. That said, we're also next year launching a brand new national television agreement that more than triples the rights fees that teams will receive based on the new partnerships we have at the NBA, but at the national level. But locally, the model's broken. The regional sports network model is broken. And whether you're in baseball, hockey, or basketball, every team right now is trying to find a way to replicate the kind of economics and take those valuable local broadcasts.

13:24We haven't done it yet. We, you know, at the Mavericks, we have a direct-to-consumer offering, Mavs TV, which has more subscribers than any other comparable system in the NBA. We also have two over-the-air broadcasters, but it doesn't begin to replicate the economics. It does for reach, which is great. We've got to figure it out, and we haven't figured it out yet. Hey, Rick, before we let you go, we touched on media just now. We've touched on the new stadium, and we've touched on, of course, the players. What else is the organization, and what are you doing at the organization to raise your valuation and to grow the business?

13:58Very briefly. Well, I think a lot of that is, frankly, top-down. I think the NBA is the best managed league in sports with Adam Silver and Mark Tatum. I think our Players Association is the most progressive with Andre Godala, David Kelly running that. And a lot of the valuation is really driven by what the NBA is as a league. And I think I've never been more excited. This is my 47th year of involvement in the NBA. What's happening internationally with the NBA right now is just different than the opportunity that any of the other traditional American sports have. And I'm so excited that our league is focused on growing the growing the sport of basketball and the business of the NBA internationally.

14:41Those things that tripling of national television revenue. Those are the things that that are big, big components of driving valuations that that, you know, are eye popping these days.

14:54Carol Massar:Well, good luck with the season, Rick. Thank you so much for finding so much time for us on this Monday. Rick Weld, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, joining our Bloomberg News Texas Bureau Chief Julie Fine. They are both in Dallas and Tim and I back here at Bloomberg headquarters in New York City. Rick, be well. Thank you. Thank you. Before you sign off, you tuned in for ways to help teams move faster, make sharper decisions, and turn scattered contexts into work they can use. ChatGPT for Business can help. ChatGPT for Business gives teams a shared workspace with admin controls, permissions, and access to work and codecs in ChatGPT.

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