Mavericks Owner Ross Perot Jr. yesterday formally
announced an agreement to sell his majority stake in the
team to Broadcast.com co-Founder Mark Cuban, pending
approval of the NBA Board of Governors (Mavs). Perot said,
"I didn't want to sell, but when I looked at it, I realized
I had done my job. We got the arena built, and we got a
great program going." In Dallas, Bart Hubbuch reports that
Perot's group "will retain" an ownership stake of between 5-
15% (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/21). Also in Dallas, Tim
Cowlishaw: "Cuban has a chance to lead the Mavericks out of
the NBA's purgatory. In the end, making money off this deal
might prove easier than even Cuban imagines" (DMN, 1/21).
ROSY $$ OUTLOOK: In Dallas, Richard Alm writes of the
Mavs, "Despite the dismal showing [on the court], the team's
finances took a turn for the better." Mavs President
Terdema Ussery said that the team is in "better financial
shape" than it was four years ago. Ussery adds that over
that span, the team has "tripled its local-television
revenue, increased sponsorships by 25 percent and cut
expenses by 20 percent" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/21).
