The Dallas Mavericks have reached out to fans holding 10-game mini-plan tickets from last year, offering them spots for the 2026-27 season. But there’s a major catch hidden in the fine print that folks shouldn’t ignore. The team appears to be slipping a preseason game into packages that were promised to contain ten regular-season matchups. This move feels like a bait-and-switch designed to boost revenue while lowering the value for the buyer.
A Hidden Preseason Game
According to Mavs Moneyball, the new Weekend Plan for the upcoming season includes the October 16 preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks. This date wasn’t part of the regular season schedule. In previous years, the earliest game in these plans was the October 22 season opener against the San Antonio Spurs. The team is now trying to fit a warm-up contest behind the defense of the real games. One fan on Reddit pointed out that this tactic lowers the quality of the product without changing the price.
The fan noted that several high-demand weekend games are missing from these packs. These include the Spurs game on October 24 and the Rockets matchup on January 31. The Lakers game on February 28 is also absent from the list. It seems the team wants to sell expensive weekend tickets while filling the gaps with cheap preseason dates. This practice creates a clear mismatch between what the buyer pays for and what they actually receive.
Terms and Conditions Matter
The Mavericks have their own Club Maverick Terms and Conditions that define a “Game Ticket” as an entry to a regular-season game. If the team sells a 10-game plan but delivers only nine regular-season games plus one preseason game, they’re technically breaking their own definition. The fan on Reddit asked a simple question about why they wouldn’t receive ten regular-season tickets as the terms state. This isn’t a small oversight. It’s a direct contradiction of the written agreement between the team and the fan.
Per Mavs Moneyball, this specific issue happened once before. Back in 2022, 10-game plan holders received a preseason game in their package. The team eventually replaced that preseason game with a regular-season game after fans raised concerns. Now, the organization is trying the same thing again. It looks like they hope fans won’t notice the difference this time around. The fact that this happened before suggests a pattern of behavior rather than a one-time error.
A Warning for Buyers
Mini-plans for the 2026-27 season aren’t yet available to the general public on the team website. The site currently asks fans to sign up as a “Mavs Insider” to get notified when the packs go on sale. This delay might be a way to keep the details quiet until after the initial wave of renewals is complete. A frustrated fan took to Reddit on Thursday to decry the practice of calling a nine-game pack a “10-game ticket pack.” The fan asked if the team thinks people are too slow to notice the change.
One thing is clear. The Mavericks are trying to squeeze more value out of a lower product. Fans should check the game dates carefully before buying any 10-game plan. The team has a history of fixing this issue only after public pressure. Don’t wait for them to fix it again. The October 16 date against the Hawks is the first sign of trouble.
