Mark Cuban eyes Downtown Dallas-area sites for new Mavericks arena

Mark Cuban is already planning the next arena for the Dallas Mavericks.

The outspoken owner told reporters before Wednesday’s game he’s giving serious consideration to abandoning the 15-year-old American Airlines Center when the team’s lease is up in 2030.

“In 14 years my dream — and this is like the long, long, long, long, long, long shot — is to build an arena that’s 20 stories up in the air where every seat has a view of downtown, whether that’s north, south, east or west, which would be very cool,” Cuban said.

Cuban said it’s not a definite the Mavericks would leave the AAC. If they did, he said the team would remain in the downtown Dallas-area. Cuban owns land in the Cedars, which is located just south of the Dallas Convention Center. There are also large tracts of land for sale near the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, not too far from the AAC.

Cuban said he’s not thrilled with the development that’s occurred around the AAC. In recent years, the long-stalled Victory development has come to life with new apartments, condos and office towers going up around the arena. Those buildings have taken away some surface parking lots for the AAC.

“It’s the parking and everything around it. I’m less worried about the curb appeal than customer satisfaction,” Cuban said.

Parking considerations would be an important part of a newly built arena.

“We’re going to want a better situation than what we’ve got now,” Cuban said.