Amidst the news of Miriam Adelson - widow to a Las Vegas casino magnate - purchasing an ownership stake in the Mavericks, I’ve seen some folks express anxiety at the possibility of the Mavericks moving to Sin City. I think there is a 0% chance of the Mavericks being relocated anywhere in the foreseeable future, and I’ll attempt to explain why in this post.

To be clear, this post is not meant to make a value judgment about this deal, sports gambling, or the morality of our new owners. I just want to set the record straight about the possibility of relocation and assuage any fears of the Mavs pulling a Supersonics. Without further ado, here are four reasons why the Mavericks will NOT relocate from Dallas:

1) Cuban still controls the team

Mark Cuban, who still has full control over basketball operations following this deal, is possibly the most notable Dallas enthusiast in the world. His ties to the Metroplex run deep, to the point where he literally owns a town at the southern reaches of DFW. As such, it’s no surprise that Cuban has already confirmed that he has no plans to move the Mavs in the wake of this sale.

Personally, I sincerely doubt that Cuban would even consider selling the team to anybody seeking relocation. Even if he was open to it, I don’t think any prospective new owner would want to move the Mavericks anyways, because:

2) DFW is a HUGE sports market

The DFW Metroplex has ~8 million people, and is one of the fastest-growing places in America. It is easily a top 5-10 media market in the nation. Moving to ANY other market - let alone Nevada, which has less than half the population of DFW alone - would make very little financial sense.

It’s also hard to understate just how important sports are in Dallas; it is easily our #1 cultural export. The Cowboys are obviously the dominant force, but the Mavs are an easy #2 and have fielded a number of fun and highly competitive teams over the past couple decades. Undermining that history by deliberately relocating from such an iconic sports market would be utterly nonsensical.

3) NBA expansion is coming soon

It’s basically an open secret that the NBA will be expanding after the next TV deal is signed, and in all likelihood the two new teams will be in Seattle and Las Vegas. Relocating any franchise to a city which will likely have a team of its own by the end of the decade would be an unnecessary hassle on top of probably being impossible. The Mavs lease at the AAC doesn’t even expire until 2031, by which time Vegas will almost definitely have an NBA franchise.

4) Cuban and Adelson’s gamble

Cuban has openly stated that he wants the next Mavs arena to be at the center of a casino and resort. Unlike in Nevada, traditional gambling and non-fantasy sportsbetting is illegal in Texas. However, Cuban and Adelson are clearly positioning themselves to be at the forefront of a renewed lobbying effort to loosen these regulations. For one thing, the Adelson family are notable supporters of Gov. Abbott. And more broadly, if there’s one thing to know about Texas state politics, it’s that money and big business almost always wins. Whether it’s right or wrong, I think our state politicians will have a hard time ignoring the many billions of dollars which legal gambling could bring to Texas. If this pans out, the Mavs have no reason at all to move to Vegas.

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TL;DR: Cuban still controls the team and likes Dallas too much to relocate. Even then, Dallas’ sports market is too huge and iconic to make relocation worthwhile. Las Vegas will get its own team soon anyways, and Cuban/Adelson seem more focused on legalizing gambling in Texas than moving to a place where it’s already allowed.