Mavericks new majority owner Patrick Dumont in an interview spoke about "all things Mavericks -- including arena scenarios -- at last bringing perspective, candor and surprisingly fresh emotion to what he calls the honor of succeeding" minority owner Mark Cuban, according to Brad Townsend of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Dumont spoke "glowingly” of GM Nico Harrison, CEO Cynt Marshall and their respective teams, and privately he has been “making personal connections throughout the franchise.” When asked to describe the team's basketball flowchart, Dumont noted that he and Cuban “have in the past worked together on multiple fronts and have a history of collaboration.” Dumont: “The way the structure works, just formally, is that I am the governor. The league wants one person to speak to, so that’s me. But I intend to get the benefit of Mark’s experience and his success.” He added, “Nico Harrison is the GM. He is the head of basketball operations. So we all get the benefit of working with Mark, but there’s one GM.” Dumont said the team has a lease at American Airlines Center “that goes for another eight years with the city. And we intend to honor that lease.” He also said that he “looks forward to sitting down with Stars leadership to get its arena vision.” Stars CEO Brad Alberts in September said that his team’s strong preference is “to remain in AAC, but that the venue still needs significant modernizing.” Dumont: “We’re going to invest in this arena and do some work there in its current form. Try to improve the hospitality experience that our fans receive, so that they enjoy the games more. ... We believe very strongly that there’s an opportunity to develop destination resorts in the state of Texas, at some point, over the next years. ... When that does happen, there might be an opportunity for us to build a brand-new arena for the Mavericks as part of an entertainment complex” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/10).
