The evolving sports broadcasting landscape may not be the only reason Mark Cuban sold the Dallas Mavericks, but the longtime media mogul still has concerns about the league’s future.
In an interview on The Draymond Green Show released Monday, Cuban clarified previous comments about his expectations around the new NBA media rights deal. Cuban said the league needs streaming companies to swoop in to save it from a potentially perilous future — and that he expects they will.
“If streamers come in and are as big as I think they are going to be, it won’t be an issue,” Cuban explained. “But even if I’m 80 percent confident, there’s always that 20 percent chance. So it’s hard to peg it exactly. I don’t think we’re going to have a problem for the next 10 years. After that, who knows what the world’s going to be like from a technology, streaming, AI, multimedia (standpoint).”
Cuban added that he wishes the league would work harder to monetize its value and power on social media to help make up for these potential losses from broadcast rights fees.
“What I do think is a source of revenue that is under-monetized is social media,” Cuban said. “The NBA is huge on social media. Guys in the NBA are, other than maybe soccer overseas, the biggest athletes on the planet. And that carries a lot of value. So I’ve pushed hard and continue to push hard that we’re under-monetizing that. So even if those (media rights) deals aren’t where I expect them to be, I think the social media side will pick up the slack at some point. Maybe not next year, but five, 10 years, whatever it is.”
Cuban said the bigger reason for selling the Mavs was simply self-awareness. He knew he was not the best person to build a new arena or lobby the state to change its gaming laws, so he brought on the Adelson family and Las Vegas Sands.
Cuban reportedly still owns a portion of the Mavs, so it’s in his best interest for the NBA to cash out on its new broadcast rights deal and for the Adelsons to work their magic in Texas.
But just like Cuban bought in low with the Mavs, he seems to see this as a chance to sell high over the next few years.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.