Cuban: NBA Is Walking Into ‘Hornet’s Nest’ in Europe
The ex-Mavs majority owner is worried about the passion of European fans.
You won’t find Mark Cuban putting up money for an NBA Europe franchise. The former Mavericks majority owner told Front Office Sports on an episode of Portfolio Players that he couldn’t justify spending the reported $500 million to $1 billion the NBA is seeking for franchises in its prospective European league. Agent Misko Ražnatović, a major figure in European basketball, told FOS the NBA Europe price tags are “ science fiction ” to him.
Cuban said he recently met with a banker working on the European project and came away with a similar sentiment. “I can buy a team in a smaller league, win that country’s league and work my way up,” Cuban explained to FOS . The NBA’s proposed league will have 12 permanent slots and four open to promotion and relegation.
The NBA is aiming to have several elite soccer clubs—like Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid—either launch basketball teams or pay to have their existing teams join the league. Cuban worries that the passion and loyalty around those clubs could be a double-edged sword. “I can pay $500 million, $1 billion and then take over a marketplace that probably hates me going in.
Because they’re so tied to their team, if I come in as NBA Europe—that fanbase particularly if I’m using an incumbent team that’s big-time right? ,” Cuban said. “And it’s run differently, you risk just being shunned and I’m like, ‘I ain’t stepping into that hornet’s nest.