Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert spoke with WFAA about the city’s efforts to keep the team in the city.
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks‘ search for a place to build their new arena continues, and the City of Dallas is seeking to keep the team in town, with help from a prominent real estate company to identify a new home for them.
Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert addressed the search during a one-on-one interview with WFAA’s Dia Wall, saying the city is working with the teams to ensure that both the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars, which share the American Airlines Center, remain in the City of Dallas.
Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts has said the team intends to move into a new venue they hope to have built and ready by the 2031-32 season after they fulfill their lease at the American Airlines Center, which expires in 2031, as our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal have reported.
“I absolutely love both the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars,” Tolbert told WFAA. “I need both of them to stay in Dallas. They are brands that truly demonstrate all that Dallas has to offer… We are having great discussions. We are working alongside great leaders in both of those organizations who truly understand Dallas is home.”
Tolbert said the conversations are “headed in the right direction” and will “continue until we know that we have done all that we can do to make sure that both of those teams will remain in our city for many years to come.”
Tolbert’s remarks on efforts to secure a new arena site for the Mavericks follow city records showing that officials hired Hillwood Urban Services — a commercial real estate development firm chaired by Ross Perot Jr. — to assist in the search.
City officials in April approved a consultant services agreement for up to $75,000 with Hillwood Urban Services to “provide site identification, site evaluation, feasibility analysis, engagement and final site recommendations for a Dallas Mavericks arena.”
Ross Perot Jr. is a former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and his company, Hillwood, developed the American Airlines Center and the Victory Park area, according to the company’s website.
In a follow-up statement made Thursday, Tolbert declined to release further details about the status of the discussions.
“We are committed to maintaining the long-term relationship that we have established with the Dallas Mavericks, and we are continuing to engage with team officials on possible sites to keep them in Dallas – where they belong. At this point, we have nothing further to report,” the statement read.
WFAA has reached out to the Dallas Mavericks for comment. We’ll update this story as additional information becomes available.