Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban "is unsure" if the team's temporary practice facility -- which will be housed in a retrofitted building on recently purchased land -- will be completed in order for the team to "house their training camp" there this fall, according to Dwain Price of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. He said, "I’m not committing yet to having training camp there (this fall). We’ll have to make sure I get this done and working, but the first thing is to put in a couple of floors, put in facilities, make it comfortable for the guys." Cuban is "planning on building something that will make the Mavs the envy of the other 29 NBA teams." Cuban: "I hope it’s going to be a six- or seven-story building to help replace what we’re doing now, and be a much higher-end practice facility that is built for medical specifications, hospital specifications, and will do a lot more.’’ Cuban said that he "didn’t ask the city of Dallas for any money to keep the Mavs’ practice facility" in the market. But without mentioning names, Cuban said that he "did receive offers to move the Mavs’ practice facilities to the suburbs." Because of the "fair way he said he’s been treated since purchasing the Mavs on Jan. 4, 2000, Cuban wasn’t about to make threats about moving the practice facility out of Dallas." He said, "In this particular case I feel like I owe the city of Dallas more than they owe me. ... I’m trying to give something back and doing things like this. So you’re not going to see us begging the city for money" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 6/8).
SHIFTING TREND: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Don Muret notes the "newest trend" in the NBA has teams "breaking with the practice of building" their training facilities into or adjacent to their arenas. It is "being driven by the desire to give players an exclusive space for training, conditioning and relaxing without the daily distractions of a big-city arena." Teams are "developing a greater comfort zone for their players and using advances in sport science and technology to try to provide a competitive edge" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/6 issue).
