The league is currently negotiating a new media rights deal that will generate an additional $2.5 billion-plus for NBA owners and players each year.

I mean, is there another owner in sports that is more synonymous with their team than Mark Cuban? Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is up there, but the list is short.Īnd that’s without mentioning that the team has dramatically increased his public profile - between the NBA and Shark Tank, Cuban is more popular than ever.īut that’s why I think this $3.5 billion sale came down to a few things.įirst, maybe Cuban isn’t as bullish on the future of the NBA as he once was. This helped the Dallas Mavericks build one of the NBA’s best fanbases over the last two decades, going from middle of the road in attendance to #1 overall this season.Ĭuban also famously delivered Dallas fans their first NBA championship by beating the Miami Heat in 2011, and many people thought he would never sell the team. He also traveled to virtually all away games on his private jet and even made his email public, frequently answering fan mail about improving the gameday experience. While most billionaire owners sit in luxury suites and entertain guests, Cuban could be seen getting shots up before games and yelling at refs from his courtside seat.

Cuban also provided catering after every practice and game for players and their families, and he even bought a 757 jet for team chartered flights.įurthermore, Cuban invested in advanced analytics studies to aid scouting, and he beefed up the coaching staff enough so that there was a 1-to-1 player-to-coach ratio.īut perhaps Mark Cuban’s biggest impact came with the fanbase. That included a complete renovation of the locker room and putting the team up in five-star hotels on the road.

The Dallas Mavericks weren’t good - the team won only 40% of their games the 20 years prior and had a playoff record of 21-32 - so Cuban started to make changes immediately.Ĭuban ended the nickel-and-diming that plagued the franchise for decades. In 2000, Cuban paid $285 million for a majority stake in the NBA team. Mark Cuban’s impact and history with the Dallas Mavericks can’t be understated.

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