Cuban selling majority Mavs stake comes a surprise due to ownership style

Despite the “significant caveat” that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will maintain operational control of the team, yesterday’s news that he will sell a majority stake to Miriam Adelson “was shocking given Cuban’s passionate ownership style” from the moment he purchased the team in 2000, according to Brad Townsend of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. A generation of Mavs fans “only have known the franchise to be under Cuban’s complete, passionate, very public control,” but now, “on paper, the Adelsons will own a majority of the franchise.” Cuban for most of the past 23 years “has operated the franchise in a hands-on, Jerry Jonesesque style,” although in the past two seasons Cuban “quietly has ceded most of the day-to-day basketball decisions” to GM Nico Harrison and his staff. Besides the “obvious connection to casino gambling and a potential new arena,” the timing of yesterday’s news “raises questions about Cuban’s reasons for selling.” Townsend wrote the sale “raises questions about how involved” Adelson and her family will be involved long-term, especially since gambling and casino legislation earlier this year again failed to gain enough support of lawmakers to allow for a vote of Texas citizens about whether to legalize sports wagering and casino resorts (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/28).

A UNIQUE DEAL: CNBC’s Brian Sullivan said “this is the most unusual sale, I think, in the history of the modern NBA” because Cuban is “going to retain control of basketball operations.” The Athletic’s Shams Charania: “This is one of the most unique deals in NBA history as far as ownership transfers … because Mark Cuban is maintaining full control of basketball operations for the Mavericks moving forward.” Charania said this deal is something that Cuban and the Adelson family “has been working on for several months now, if not the majority of 2023.” Podcast host Joe Pompliano said the $3.5B valuation of the Mavericks is a “good value for the Adelson family” (“Last Call,” CNBC, 11/28). FS1’s Craig Carton said, “If I drop $3B on an NBA team I’d like to make all the decisions” (“The Carton Show,” FS1, 11/29).

SLOWLY BUT SURELY: In Dallas, Kevin Sherrington wrote in selling a majority share of his “beloved Mavs,” Cuban is “getting out, slowly but surely.” Cuban offered “no explanation” yesterday for the stunning news, though Cuban “made clear last year that he hoped to eventually partner with the Adelson family” -- which owns the Las Vegas Sands Corp. -- to build a new arena and casino adjacent to Dallas’ new convention center. But there are “two problems at the moment:” The Mavs’ lease with American Airlines Center doesn’t expire until 2031, and the state of Texas “has yet to legalize gambling.” In bringing the Adelson family to the front lines, perhaps Cuban “thinks the push to persuade lawmakers will bring different results.” Sherrington wrote what makes this news “so shocking is expressly because of Cuban’s management style” and how much the sale “contradicts everything we’ve learned since a broke kid from Pittsburgh drove to Dallas in a car with a hole in the floorboard to make his fortune.” Whatever the reason, the Mavs “won’t be the same.” The difference “won’t be clear at first,” and “maybe not for the rest of this season.” The story of this sale is that Cuban “would remain governor and thus maintain operational control.” But if you are a minority owner, you are “not the boss.” You “serve at the pleasure of the person who has the biggest stake in the game,” and for the first time in more than two decades, that is “no longer Cuban” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/28).

FRONT AND CENTER: THE ATHLETIC’s Charania, Vorkunov & Cato noted for more than two decades, Cuban has been “as much the face of the Mavs as any of the stars who have played for the franchise in that time.” Cuban put himself “front and center in the nearly 23 years he has owned the franchise.” This transaction “is as interesting as it is surprising.” At a time when the NBA, and every other sports league, is “leaning into sports betting,” the Mavs are “being bought by the family of one of country’s largest casino tycoons.” This transaction also “ends a seemingly endless valuation climb for NBA teams.” The value of teams seemed to just “keep going up and to the right over the last decade.” But after the Hornets were sold for $3B earlier this year, and a 25% stake in the Bucks went for a $3.5B valuation, and Suns owner Mat Ishbia bought a majority stake in the Suns at a $4B valuation, the Mavs “did not top that number” (THE ATHLETIC, 11/28).

CUTTING BACK? In Fort Worth, Mac Engel wrote Cuban “once proclaimed” he would turn down “any offer” to sell the Mavs. So, yesterday’s decision “means a few things.” He wants to "cut back his schedule, and responsibilities" as primary owner of the Mavs. The “more likely scenario” is he wants to “focus just on the basketball,” with the chance that he wants to be involved in casinos “whenever Texas finally legalizes pro sports betting.” Cuban may be selling off majority shares of the Mavs to a resort and casino company, but “do not expect much else to change about how this team looks and functions for a while.” There could be “some changes on the business side,” and how the Mavs market themselves (FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 11/28).