The Carolina Panthers are up for sale and while many with interest in owning an NFL franchise will line up to try and take the reins of the team, don’t expect Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to be among them.
“Not interested at all in any NFL franchise,” Cuban tells Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. The Shark Tank star later added, “Why would I buy an NFL team if I think the league is in decline?”
In order to buy an NFL team, Cuban would be required to sell the Mavericks (per NFL rules). That’s not something that’s likely to happen anytime soon.
“There’s no team I would want other than the Mavericks, certainly no football team in the universe,” Cuban said. “There’s not even a close second.”
“I love the Mavs. I love Dallas. I mean, Charlotte’s a great city, but there’s nothing I don’t like here — other than losing right now. I would never turn my back on the city of Dallas.”
Cuban has been critical of the NFL’s future with regard to players’ safety and he believes buying a team would go against his strong stance on the sport.
“Like I’ve always said, Dallas has given me so much. And what am I going to say to my son and his friends or my daughter and her friends: ‘Oh, yeah: Football’s dangerous for you, but I bought a football team…I know I’m a hypocrite from time to time, but I really, really, really try not to be,” Cuban added.
If the NFL is in decline, then the Mavs have nosedived right into the ground under Cuban’s ownership.
They also one a championship this decade. With the tv ratings declining what happens when their deals come up they will be renewed for sure but at a solid 10-15 decrease. Lowering the value of the teams. So why buy in now if it’s an investment for you and not a pet project
Just what the NFL needs, another annoying diva owner.
Wrong ‘won’, just saying
How can the NFL decline when they have so many cute uniforms nowadays?
It says in the article that he can’t own a nfl team without selling his nba team! But how can you explain Tom Benson owning the pelicans and the saints. Doesn’t seem as if the info in this article is correct
The NFL allows its owners to buy a team in another sport, but only if that team is in the same market, or in a market without an NFL team. In other words, Cuban WOULD be allowed to own an NBA team if he were to buy the Panthers, but it would have to be the Hornets or a team in a market without an NFL team (conversely, he’d be allowed to buy the Cowboys without selling the Mavericks).
Stan Kroenke owns the Rams but also owns the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets (and two other Colorado-based teams), who share a market with the Denver Broncos. So how is he not affected by this ruling?
My understanding is that Kroenke transferred ownership of the Denver teams to his wife and children (including Josh Kroenke) at some point after he bought the Rams as part of an agreement with the NFL. So he doesn’t technically own those teams anymore, though the fact that they’re still in the family shows that there are ways to sort of get around those rules if the NFL is on board.
I’ll add that while the NFL does have that rule about cross-sport ownership, it’s also up to the NFL to actually enforce it. Considering Kroenke was responsible for bringing the NFL back to L.A. and is spending so much of his own money to build the new facilities there, it makes sense that the NFL would be somewhat lenient when it comes to his other teams. I’m not sure the league would be as lenient for Cuban or many other would-be owners.