Mark Cuban once again expressed an interest in buying a minority stake in the NHL’s Dallas Stars, but only enough to give him control of American Airlines Center.
His name’s been popping up as a potential buyer for the Stars: Hicks Sports Group lost control of the team to its investment partner, Monarch Investments, and that group is seeking to sell the Stars. Most recently his name came up this weekend in Canadian TV accounts of the sale, but in an email to the Dallas Morning News he downplayed the speculation, saying he had interest only in a minority share so he could control American Airlines Center.
“I’ve had conversations w/ several folks for the same reason: As always, the arena,” Cuban wrote. “And I will talk to anyone who is interested in the Stars, because I would like to get control of the arena.”
Which, of course, begs the question: Why would Monarch and the NHL be stupid enough to let the fox into the henhouse? For Cuban, control of American Airlines Center means getting an advantage for his real love: the Dallas Mavericks. If Cuban does actually get control of the the arena, the Stars would be consigned to a secondary role in the arena: lots of Wednesday night games, secondary signage opportunities and first priority on everything for the Mavs. The priorities of the Stars majority owners certainly wouldn’t align 100 percent with the priorities of their minority owner.
We give credit for Cuban for standing up and being pretty clear about what he was looking for. But that truth will probably doom any chance he had to be involved with the Stars ownership.
Follow Arena Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!
Follow the latest arena news with the weekly Arena Digest newsletter. You can sign up here.
