Cuban to League: SCREW YOU!

[MavKikiNYC]

Mark Cuban pulls out of radio show to protest league

By ART GARCIA

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Tired of dealing with the NBA’s “hypocrisy,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban pulled the plug on his league-approved satellite radio show before it ever aired.

Cuban agreed to begin doing a two-hour Sunday talk show, Mark Cuban’s Radio Maverick, on SIRIUS as part of the NBA’s multimillion dollar broadcast agreement with the satellite network.

Instead, he dropped out of the show citing a difference of opinion with the league and fellow owners on myriad issues, including the recent passage of an owners’ code of conduct.

“It was a culmination of many things in my relationship with the NBA,” Cuban said via e-mail. “I decided to make my decision public because of e-mails from potential listeners and because of the information that some of the other owners or the league leaked to the media this week.”

What Cuban says bothers him is the hypocritical nature of other owners and the league office. The billionaire has been fined at least $1.6 million since buying the team in 2000 and nearly $500,000 in the playoffs last season.

“The owners who speak out the most against me have been the first organizations to ask me to support their marketing or sales efforts,” Cuban said.

“The league execs who chastise me or fine me have never hesitated to leverage me when it was to their advantage or to have their personnel tell me that they love what I’m doing, but could never contradict the league publicly or privately. So I’m a needed voice for them.”

The league office declined to comment on Cuban’s assertions.

The new code of conduct, approved at the board of governors meeting last week, appears to target Cuban, easily the league’s most vocal internal critic. The contents of the code or its repercussions haven’t been released by the NBA.

“The ‘code of conduct’ has no description or definition, so it’s hard to respond to,” Cuban said. “But the intent was to suggest that some owners don’t like the way I do business, something they remind me of collectively every year but forget individually when they ask for something for the league or their teams.”

So Cuban has “reached the point where I’m not willing to go along with the hypocrisy that comes from all of us” and says he plans to scale back his involvement in league initiatives.

He added that perhaps the league is at a place where his input just isn’t necessary anymore.

“I’m proud of the league,” Cuban said. “We have momentum. Departments have made huge strides.
We are the No. 1 international sports brand after soccer.

“The league has a well-defined mission statement. Life is perfect for the league, so I feel fine just stepping into the background.”

For good?

“I won’t say never, but I will probably settle into the level of promotion that you see other owners do in support of franchises other than their own and in support of the league,” he said.