Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said he intends to bring more major sports events to Macau, building on the success of the NBA China Games held over the weekend in the city.
Speaking on Sunday at the Parisian during the fireside chat “Pivot Point: How Sports Ownership is Reaching Global Communities”, Dumont described Macau as “truly a city of entertainment and sport” and noted that the city’s venues and event format make it easy to host further high-profile competitions. He highlighted the potential to “bring more sports here and showcase Macau’s capacity” as a tourism destination.
Alongside Alibaba chairman and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and Inter Miami co-owner and former football star David Beckham, Dumont took part in the discussion moderated by former NBA star Vince Carter, which focused on sports broadcasting, fan experience and community building.
Macau’s evolving tourism mix
Dumont pointed to the evolution of Macau’s tourism mix, crediting infrastructure, improved hotels, restaurants and retail for attracting “more sophisticated travellers” who stay longer. He also underlined the role of social media in accelerating interest in Macau’s experiences.
Tsai said the WNBA could be the next major franchise to stage an event in Macau, arguing that sport and entertainment should be seen as integrated. “The fan experience is integral to everything,” he said, adding that sport is also inseparable from education, citing the new Asia University Basketball League.
Beckham echoed the emphasis on youth development, saying “education and sport go hand in hand.”
Global ambitions
Dumont also said that negotiations between the NBA and the Euroleague over a new European competition demonstrate the global power of basketball.
“The NBA is looking at potential activities in Europe. Why? Because of the global appeal of the sport,” Patrick Dumont said in Macau during the public event on the sports business.
The Euroleague, currently considered the world’s second-best club competition after the NBA, confirmed on Friday that it had held a meeting two days earlier with the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
The aim was to “identify a collaborative framework that benefits all parties involved,” the Euroleague said, adding that it had imposed four “basic principles” on any discussion about creating an NBA Europe.
These principles include “protecting the identity of European basketball and its fans,” maintaining “competitive excellence” and ensuring that decision-making power “remains in Europe”.
In April, the Euroleague had described the creation of a new competition as “a threat” to European basketball traditions that could “lead to fragmentation and confusion” in the sport.
Two weeks earlier, the NBA had announced it would explore creating a professional league in Europe in partnership with FIBA.
Social media fuels global basketball communities
Patrick Dumont argued there is “worldwide enthusiasm around” basketball because the internet allows fans to follow “their favourite teams, even if they are not nearby”.
“When I was young, basketball was inherently local. We talked about the [New York] Knicks, but nobody watched a game live,” recalled the chairman of casino operator Las Vegas Sands.
Dumont, who grew up in New York, also stressed that, in addition to watching games, social media allows fans to “create communities around their love of the sport”.
“Sport can do a lot to bring people together,” said the businessman, seated alongside former England international footballer David Beckham and Joe Tsai Chung-Hsin, owner of another NBA team, the Brooklyn Nets.