Cuban can't discount notion of owning Cubs Cubs owner Mark Cuban.
It has a certain ring to it, don't you think?
Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, will play the role of guest conductor during the seventh-inning stretch today at Wrigley Field. But in the future, he conceivably could play a much larger role in the Cubs organization. Or so Cubs fans can hope.
Cuban is a born-and-bred Pittsburgh Pirates fan, but he knows a good investment when he sees one. If the folks in Tribune Tower ever find themselves in the mood to talk sale, Cuban would listen.
Years ago, I suggested an approach to the Pitt Rocks crew that they should get Mark Cuban tp purchase Pitt Stadium. We could have put graduate student housing around the ring on the top with an upper deck.
On July 16, the Trib gives this more coverage.
Cuban would be interested in owning Pirates - PittsburghLIVE.com
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Cuban would be interested in owning Pirates
By Joe Rutter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, July 16, 2005
CHICAGO -- Mark Cuban, the Mt. Lebanon native and billionaire owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, would consider adding the Pirates to his sports holdings.
But he would do so only if approached by the team's ownership group, led by managing general partner Kevin McClatchy.
"If they ever decided to sell, I'd definitely be interested in taking a look," Cuban said Friday while attending the Pirates' game at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. "I'm certainly not the type to be proactive about this. That wouldn't be fair to Kevin."
Cuban, 46, also said he would be amenable to joining the current ownership group. But, again, only if asked.
"It's something I'd consider," he said. "I'm a Pirates fan, a Pittsburgh fan. If they ever got to the point where there was a risk they'd be moved out of Pittsburgh, it would be something I would consider. It's important that we have our complement of teams."
McClatchy addressed Cuban's remarks in a brief statement issued by the team's media relations department.
"There's no chance of the Pirates moving away, so it's really a non-issue," McClatchy said.
Cuban, coincidentally, plans to be at PNC Park on Monday night when the Pirates play the Houston Astros. The game coincides with his return home to be a keynote speaker at a fund-raiser for St. Clair Hospital.
Cuban said he will attend the game with his father and a group of high school friends, and not as McClatchy's guest.
"My first request was to sit in center field, eat hot dogs and drink beer," Cuban said. "I didn't call the Pirates. I just like to go to the games."
Cuban said he decided against sitting in the high-priced home-plate club seats Monday night because it would lead to speculation he was trying to buy the club.
"There was an article in the paper today about me buying the Cubs," he said, laughing. "No matter where I go, people are going to speculate."
Cuban laughed when asked whether he could purchase the Pirates with the fines, exceeding $1 million, he has accumulated for his frequent criticism of NBA referees.
"No," he said, "but I could put a down payment down."
Although the Pirates are en route to their 13th consecutive losing season, Cuban praised the McClatchy regime for getting PNC Park erected and rebuilding the core of the team around young players.
He compared the Pirates' situation with the Mavericks when he took over in January 2000. In their full season under Cuban's ownership, he Mavericks went 53-29 and reached the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
"People didn't have a lot of expectations when I bought the Mavericks," he said. "All of a sudden, the switch flipped and things have been going great ever since. That's because we had a great young nucleus. I think the Pirates have that opportunity as well."
Cuban was the guest conductor for the seventh inning stretch yesterday. He admitted to feeling out of sorts wearing a Cubs jersey and having to say "root, root, root for the Cubbies" during the song.
He also wasn't happy with the final score, an 11-1 loss by his hometown team.
"Hopefully, we'll have a better showing (Monday)," he said.
Joe Rutter can be reached at jrutter1234@aol.com.
Cuban can't discount notion of owning Cubs
July 15, 2005
BY CAROL SLEZAK SUN-TIMES
Cubs owner Mark Cuban.
It has a certain ring to it, don't you think?
Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, will play the role of guest conductor during the seventh-inning stretch today at Wrigley Field. But in the future, he conceivably could play a much larger role in the Cubs organization. Or so Cubs fans can hope.
Cuban is a born-and-bred Pittsburgh Pirates fan, but he knows a good investment when he sees one. If the folks in Tribune Tower ever find themselves in the mood to talk sale, Cuban would listen.
"The Cubbies are such an institution, if they became available, it would certainly be exciting to consider,'' he said via e-mail.
Of course, it is merely a notion at present. But who knows what the future might bring? The forward-thinking Cuban, who made his fortune from the creation -- and subsequent sale -- of an Internet broadcasting company, typically is a step ahead of most sports executives. For instance, Cuban recently made headlines after broaching the issue of advertising on NBA jerseys on his Web log at www.blogmaverick.com.
"Commissioner [David] Stern and the NBA have made a significant investment into making the NBA an international league,'' Cuban wrote in May. "Starting with the Dream Team in 1992, the visibility and popularity of the league and our players have exploded. Hundreds and hundreds of millions have watched our games in China. Our games are shown in more than 212 countries. Our merchandise is sold around the world. We are probably the second most popular game around the world, behind only soccer.
"What the NBA doesn't have at this moment ... is a way to sell all of those fans and eyeballs to international companies that market globally.''
The answer, Cuban says, is to have companies pay a huge fee to have their logo stitched onto NBA uniforms. And why not? When Spanish soccer club Real Madrid invades Soldier Field on Saturday, its players' jerseys will carry sponsorship logos. And both NASCAR drivers and their cars brandish sponsor logos.
"Putting a logo on our jerseys is the way for us to open the door to every major international company who may only do limited business in the U.S. to become a customer of the NBA and its teams,'' Cuban wrote in his blog.
When asked about the possibility during the NBA Finals, Stern said he "didn't doubt'' that it would eventually happen. When Cuban and Stern, who have famously feuded, feel similarly about something, you know it's only a matter of time before that something becomes reality.
(According to Cuban, he and Stern are getting along famously these days. "If both of us weren't already happily married, we would probably date, things are so good,'' Cuban said.)
Asked if the NBA would beat the NHL, NFL and Major League Baseball to the punch on jersey sponsorship, Cuban said whichever league "has a customer offer an eight-figure commitment first'' will become the first major U.S. professional sports league to go commercial. But he estimated that jersey sponsorship is five years away.
"It takes a while for advertisers to decide to spend that much money on something new,'' he explained. "If someone walked in tomorrow and offered $10 million a year, it would get done.''
As recently as 10 years ago, the idea might have seemed abhorrent to many sports fans. Since then, fans have grown accustomed to seeing sponsors' names attached to nearly every segment of TV and radio broadcasts, in all sports. Baseball is one of the worst culprits, with sponsorship attached to seemingly every pitch of every game.
And let's not forget signage, which has grown to monstrous proportions in stadiums, arenas and ballparks across the country. By comparison, a corporate logo on a uniform might seem tasteful.
Speaking of good taste, when asked if he was familiar with Jeff Gordon's seventh-inning stretch performance, Cuban replied, "I know the words.''
Cubs fans expect nothing less from any potential owner of their franchise.
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