Graduate students from Texas A&M are designing a new practice facility for Mark Cuban and his Dallas Mavericks. The building will be state-of-the-art and be open to the public featuring a wide variety of different establishments. A Mavericks theater, museum, public café, team store, and bioswale garden are planned to be featured in the development alongside the practice facilities that the Mavericks players will use. The building will also serve as the franchise’s headquarters.
The students are working in four studios with Brian Trubey, who graduated Texas A&M in 1983 and also designed AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Trubey, the vice president of HSK, Inc. will be guiding and mentoring them as they try to add their own designs to the building. The school is allowing the students to gain real world experience while working with one of the best architects in the world. The students will send in their final designs at the end of the semester.
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The facility will also be the home of multiple sports technology startups, which could be a brilliant idea for teams to bring innovation and new ideas in house. Cuban might be one of the most experienced team owners in the league when it comes to integrating technology throughout the franchise and hosting tech start-ups is a great way to bring in new ideas and talent.
The Mavericks have previously been known for working with sports tech companies to improve fan experience and business operations. In 2014, they partnered with Replay Technologies to provide a 360 degree viewing angle for fans, named “FreeD”. In January of 2015, The Mavericks partnered with Tixsee to provide a 360 degree immersive experience when buying tickets online. Over 12,000 panoramic images were compiled to create over 1,000 360 degree pictures.
The Mavericks hope to have the facility built in a couple of years and other sports franchises should use their work with Texas A&M as an example to build innovation into the heart of their franchise.