Mark Cuban has always been one of the league’s most outspoken owners, and even after selling his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks, he remains one of basketball’s sharpest voices. On The Arena, Cuban laid out what he believes are the biggest challenges facing the NBA over the next decade, and his concerns touch every corner of the league, from fan culture to ownership, streaming, and international expansion.
“I think the whole media space is really funky. That social media is more of a connection to fans. Like particularly with the NBA, kids today are more fans of the players than they are the teams. Like when we grew up, you’re Lakers fan, right?”
“I’m a Steelers fan. I’m a Pirates. All Pittsburgh teams, right? Now it’s just like you see Steph and Steph comes to town, and there’s a ton of kids with Steph jerseys on. That wasn’t going to happen 10 years ag,o pre-social media.”
“So I think, you know, trying to monetize and recognize that social media is going to change and impact how we market our players, market our teams, and market our product.”
“I think the fact that private equity is buying into so many teams I think, is a problem because you know for the first 20 years that I was an owner, I and other owners too would be pushing that fan experience, fan experience, make it affordable, make it affordable.”
“Now it’s all about valuations, you know, and so everybody just, you know, if you’re private equity and you have investors in these things called special purpose vehicles, all you want to do is the value of the team to go up.”
“And if you’re trying to just jack up ticket prices, jack up costs, jack up merchandise sales, that’s not necessarily best for fans, you know? And so I think fans are getting priced out.”
“So I think that’s an issue. I think, you know, the ultimate business question for the NBA is how will our games impact streaming subscriptions for our new streaming partners? Because one of the reasons these numbers went up so high is Peacock Streaming, I think it was them, they did a deal with the NFL, like one special deal for a playoff game and got like a zillion new subscribers.”
“I was one of them, right? And everybody is betting that’s what’s going to happen. If there’s a lot of churn or we don’t get those subscriptions for those partners, it’s going to be tough for them, right? And so I think that’s a big issue.”
“But in terms of the players themselves, the NBA’s in good hands. In terms of the quality of the game, the NBA is in good shape.”
“In terms of taking it to Europe, like I think for the whole time I was there, I was like, why are we giving our best players to the Olympics so that Comcast can make a s**t ton of money, and the Olympic Committee could make because the NBA players were the draw for the summer Olympics.”
“Why are we giving that free? Why don’t we create our own World Cup and do like soccer did, right? For the Olympics, 23 and under, great. But let’s play Slovenia against, you know, all the different countries and own it. It would be enormous.”
“It would be the biggest basketball event ever. And David Stern and then Adam were like, ‘That’s not our deal with FIBA. We can’t do it.’
The first point Cuban raised was how social media has permanently changed the relationship between fans and the game. For decades, loyalty was tied to teams. You grew up a Lakers fan, a Celtics fan, or in Cuban’s case, a Steelers and Pirates fan. Today, however, the dynamic has shifted.
From there, Cuban turned to ownership trends. The rise of private equity in the league is, in his eyes, a looming problem. During his early years as owner, he and his peers were obsessed with improving the fan experience and keeping basketball affordable. Now, with private equity groups and investment vehicles buying into teams, the emphasis has shifted to valuations and profits.
Another massive issue is the NBA’s media future. With broadcast rights increasingly tied to streaming platforms, the league is betting big that its games will drive subscriptions the way NFL content has. Cuban referenced Peacock’s exclusive playoff game deal with the NFL, which drew a wave of new subscribers, including himself. The NBA’s rights deals are banking on similar outcomes.
International expansion is another area where Cuban feels the NBA has missed opportunities. He has long argued that instead of loaning its stars to the Olympics, a platform where the IOC and networks like NBC profit, the NBA should have created its own World Cup of basketball.
His vision is for a global tournament with national teams featuring NBA stars, controlled and monetized by the league itself. While Adam Silver has instead focused on expanding NBA Europe, Cuban believes that plan is a smaller play compared to the revenue and prestige of a league-run global event.
Still, Cuban ended with optimism. He believes the talent level is in good hands, with players like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ready to carry the torch. But as he sees it, the NBA’s biggest hurdles aren’t on the court. They lie in ownership priorities, media strategy, and global positioning, and how the league balances making money with maintaining its soul.
