Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban said what makes the NBA "special versus other professional sports leagues" is that it is a "player-driven league," according to Steve Bulpett of the BOSTON HERALD. Cuban said, "That connects us to kids. They have social media presence. They're influencers. Kids follow them. They follow them on every platform -- except for Facebook because kids aren't on Facebook. But that's huge for us." He added, "A kid comes into the league with a big social media following, and we don't have to market them. They're marketing for us, other than vice versa, and you can't really say that about any other sport." Cuban also said fans are "really connecting to the NBA, and they're connecting at younger ages." Cuban: "We just have to make sure we connect to fans younger, as opposed to, in the past, you grew up with your parents watching your team. And that's becoming less prevalent today" (BOSTON HERALD, 12/1).
LIGHTEN THE LOAD: Cuban also touched on the subject of load management in the NBA. He said, "These are professionals that make a living with their body and science has changed over the years. We now are a lot smarter about the impact of a 48-minute game. We can track fatigue. We can see the impact, not just on their bodies, but in their performance, and so, when we limit a guy's minutes, we got more out of them." Cuban said "load management isn't just reduction of minutes" but it also "means toward the end of the season, you're increasing minutes, you're increasing number of games so by the time the playoffs kick in, you're ready" to play longer minutes ("The Rich Eisen Show," Audience Network, 11/29).
