Till the point Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks in 2023, he was considered one of the best owners in the NBA. Players raved about how well Cuban treated them, and it wasn’t just Mavericks players, but also those who played for the other teams.
Advertisement
Even though Cuban’s term as majority owner and governor of the Mavs is over, he still holds a minority stake in the team and is dialed in about what is going on in the NBA world. Cuban recently sat down with Gilbert Arenas on his podcast Gil’s Arena, where he was asked about the biggest opportunities and challenges the league is facing.
Having been involved closely in basketball operations since 2000, Cuban has seen various eras of basketball. Pointing out one of the biggest differences today, he said, “I think the whole media space is really funky, right? Social media is more of a connection to fans. Particularly with the NBA, kids today are more fans of the players than they are the teams.”
He gave an example of how, back in the day, fans were lifers for a certain team, but that isn’t the case anymore. Social media has given us access to players and their lives, making the fans resonate with players more than teams. He used Steph Curry as an example.
“Now it’s just like you see Steph and Steph comes to town, and there’s a ton of kids with Steph jerseys on. That wasn’t going to happen 10 years ago, pre-social media.”
While the statement Cuban made makes sense, it’s not entirely true. Any time there is a player who receives the kind of stature Steph did, there are always fans and followers, no matter where they go. We saw the same kind of adoration for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Cuban pointed out how owners are using this to their advantage, which is ultimately hurting the fans. “So I think trying to monetize and recognize that social media is going to change and impact how we market our players, market our teams, and market our product.”
He pointed out how it’s different from how things used to be, “I think the fact that private equity is buying into so many teams I think is a problem because for the first 20 years that I was an owner, I and other owners too would be pushing that fan experience, fan experience, make it affordable, make it affordable. Now it’s all about valuations.”
Cuban pointed out how, at the end of the day, it’s hurting the fans more than anything. “If you’re trying to just jack up ticket prices, jack up costs, jack up merchandise, that’s not necessarily best for fans. And so I think fans are getting priced out.”
The prices for tickets and merchandise is at an all-time high. Not too long ago, a tweet went viral where a Feb 1 Lakers vs Knicks game at MSG has an average ticket price of $1,138. Some may be able to afford such exorbitant pricing, but most fans can’t. On top of that, the cost of watching the games on various streaming services adds up as well.
The NBA knows what challenges lie ahead of them, and they will have to find a way to fix them, if they want to retain they loyal fanbase.
