Mark Cuban on 'Dancing,' Hoops, Vegas and More
Posted: Monday, December 10, 2007 11:47 AM by Dan Fleschner
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Live from Studio 1A
This morning, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban joined comedian Bob Saget and Olympic figure skater Scott Hamilton as a panel to discuss turning 50. WATCH VIDEO
If you don't know anything about Cuban, here's the thumbnail sketch:
He's one of the country's wealthiest people, with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion, thanks largely to the sale of broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999; in addition to owning the Mavs, he also co-founded the cable channel HDNet; and he recently took a star turn as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars."
After his segment on the show today, he sat down with me to talk about a variety of subjects, from his hip replacement surgery to hanging out in Vegas last weekend to his unlikely friendship with Wayne Newton.
We began the conversation talking about another of his "Dancing" compatriots, boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr.:
DF: I saw you at the Mayweather/Hatton fight on Saturday night. What was it like being in Vegas, Mayweather's hometown, and you're surrounded by all these drunk English guys. What was the scene like?
Mark Cuban: Yeah, it was crazy. It was out of a bad dream, when you're sitting there, there are 17,000 people, and 16,000 of them are drunk and from overseas, booing the national anthem, booing "Born in the USA," booing Floyd Mayweather and everything associated with him. It was bizarre, but it was fun. It was a unique experience.
And walking into the ring, holding up the belts, and feeling all the energy...it was like the NBA Finals. Everything was so intense and amplified, and obviously, when the fight began and these guys started beating the hell out of each other, it brought things to a higher level. It was cool.
DF: Did you talk to any of the English guys? Were they talking smack at you because you were a Mayweather guy? What was going on there?
MC: Everybody was giving me a hard time. I played rugby forever, so I knew a lot of the songs, and I was giving them a hard time right back. So it was fun. But it was a great fight, and that's what made it even better. There wasn't a lot of dancin' and prancin', it was two guys beating the hell out of each other.
And because Hatton gave such a good showing, it turned out okay. But literally, down by where we were sitting, people had escape routes in mind. If it had gone to a decision or if Hatton had won by knockout, or worse yet, if something controversial against Hatton had happened, there would have been a riot.
The ushers were talking about it, "Here's your closest exit, we're gonna run in that direction, or if that's blocked, we'll go in that direction and head back towards the locker room..." So that was kind of interesting.
DF: They were ready for hooliganism.
MC: We all were ready for hooliganism. These guys were trashed, there were fights up in the stands. I thought it was enjoyable <laughs>, but it was interesting.
DF: It seems like you would be a fun guy to hang out with in Vegas. What's a typical night out in Vegas for you? It might be different now than it was 10 years ago...
MC: Not really! I like to gamble, so I'll stay at the Palms, usually, and hang out there. Play blackjack with friends. Just depends on if I'm there for business or for fun. If it's for fun, just running around, gambling and drinking -- the two staples of life in Vegas.
I like to hang out with my buddies, talk a good game at the blackjack table...and it's not even about how much I gamble, it's more just sitting there, talking sports and having a good time.
DF: Okay, "Dancing with the Stars"...how's the hip? How are you feeling?
MC: It's still attached! I feel great, actually. I just started running -- I could dance but I couldn't run. So I started running again this past week, and I did 15 minutes on the treadmill. When I get up to 30 minutes, I'll start playing basketball again.
On "Dancing With the Stars," it was fine. I took a couple Vicodin before the show, so I wasn't feeling anything until the next day <laughs>. But it got a lot better. It was great rehab. I had a choice: I could do physical therapy with some big fat guy in a gym, or I could dance with Kym Johnson, a hot Australian, with approval from my wife, so it was great. It was a win-win.
DF: What was your favorite part about being on the show?
MC: My favorite part of being on the show was the rush of standing up there when they announced your name, knowing that once the music started, it was live. No 20-second timeouts, no do-overs, no re-takes, no re-shoots. Knowing that after practicing 4-6 hours a day, this was your one shot, it was make or break. That rush, that high, was amazing. I loved it.
DF: Did any of the Mavs give you any grief for being on a dancing show?
MC: At the beginning, they did. And then they started to realize, as they watched the show, that it was a lot of work. A lot of them couldn't have done it. And what I later heard most was that I had some big ones for getting out there and doing it live.
The guys know me and know I can go out and dance, have fun. But ballroom dancing is a whole lot different than having three beers and thinking you're a hero on the dance floor. But they were pretty cool. By the time I got to the second or third week and they had seen me a couple times, it all turned. A lot of it had to do with their girlfriends and wives, too, they were really into it, so they had new-found respect for me.
DF: Did anyone in particular give you a hard time?
MC: Dirk [Nowitzki] did a little bit at the beginning, but then he watched. He says he didn't, but I would get texts from him afterwards. Once he saw me do my thing, he wasn't telling me he thought I should have won, but I know he had respect for me.
DF: He was probably telling you that no German man would act like that in public...
MC: Yeah...more like that he wouldn't have the guts to do it.
DF: Did you ever think there would ever be a scenario in your life where you'd be buddies with Wayne Newton?
MC: No. You know, if I would have known, when I was watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off, that the words to the song "Danke Schoen" would have taken on a whole new meaning, 20 years later, I would have laughed my ass off.
Wayne's actually a really, really cool guy. He's got a heart of gold, and he's obviously a legend in Vegas. So Saturday night, we're walking to the MGM Grand, to the arena. It was Wayne, his wife, Helio Castroneves and I. We were taking all the back tunnels, and Wayne knew where to go! His wife, Kat, was like, "We never go in the front door...I have no idea what the actual casinos look like."
Just to be around Wayne and see how people respond to Mr. Vegas in Vegas was a unique experience. But no, never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be walking the tunnels of Vegas or dancing with Wayne Newton.
DF: Okay, let's get to the NBA. Probably a question you get asked a lot, but I'll ask you anyway. What's the #1 change you would like to see made, whether from a rules perspective, a business perspective...what's the #1 thing that bugs you about the NBA?
MC: I think the game is great, I think the business has gotten a lot better, I think the game has gotten a lot better. I'll take a little credit for some of that. I think the biggest thing that I would change is that we have such a unique and successful focus internationally, where the game is growing, that we haven't been as aggressive here in the United States.
So I try, particularly in the summer -- to keep interest high during the baseball season and the football season -- try some barnstorming things. Like they used to do in the '30s, when baseball and basketball teams would barnstorm. What I recommended was to go to our largest NBA cities and play a local college team or play some outdoor games for charities.
Go to Kentucky, where basketball is big, play in the University of Louisville's football stadium, an outdoor basketball game. Have the Spurs play the Mavs. Or go to Kansas City or San Diego, do those types of fun events, do it for charity, and bring 50-60,000 people, charge 10 bucks a head and play an outdoor basketball game.
It would be a blast, have people tailgating, just have that fun, spirited association with the NBA so people have a good vibe going into the season.
DF: Have you gotten over the Mavs' first round playoff loss from last season?
MC: The playoffs last year were easy. You never want to lose in the first round, obviously, especially after a 67-win season. But when you lose in the first round, you never get into the playoff spirit. Losing in the Finals was painful.
DF: So have you not gotten over losing in the Finals two years ago?
MC: Am I still bitter? Nah...if you would have asked me last year, I would have said yes. But now, we're a second season removed...
DF: Do you cringe every time you see Dwyane Wade at the free throw line?
MC: I cringe every time I see one of those Dwyane Wade commercials. I don't know which part is the commercial itself and which part is what happened, but I still do cringe. It's one of those things that you'll never get back. It's like an old girlfriend. The breakup was painful, but it's time to move on.
DF: What will it take for the Mavs to dethrone the Spurs and win it all this year?
MC: Win 16 games after the season ends, like it does every year. I think we've got a good squad. We've taken a little different approach this year. In previous years, it was all about winning every game in the regular season to get the high seed.
Now, we've been there and done that, so it's more about developing the team, keeping guys fresh, taking something from the Spurs' playbook. We've had some hiccups doing that, and the first 20 games was kind of an extended preseason. We tried different rotations and different approaches in practice and after practice, in terms of the culture. We've learned a few things from the beginning of the season, but hopefully now we're ready to kick it in gear.
DF: Turning to HDNet...
MC: I can talk about HDNet all day...
DF: Well, this is a pretty random question about it. As a Yale grad and former Yale football announcer, I'm curious what the Harvard/Yale game is doing on HDNet. Of all the choices out there, why is that a property you're interested in?
MC: Actually, it's a lesson I learned from the broadcast.com days. Sometimes the best properties aren't necessarily the biggest properties, but they're the ones with the most rabid fans. You don't think of Harvard and Yale as big football powerhouses, but the fans are national, and the folks who are into it are really into it, and if they're really into it, they'll sign up for HDNet. So that's the logic.
DF: Dan Rather...how is his show working out? And what is the metric for success for that kind of a show?
MC: "Dan Rather Presents" is kicking ass. It was nominated for an Emmy, and it will be nominated for a whole lot of other awards this year. It's the one news show where we just give him carte blanche. Whatever you want to do Dan, you've got 58 of 60 minutes. We've got two breaks -- not even for commercials, just breaks -- and he has carte blanche to do whatever he needs to do.
He's just getting back from Cuba, where he was working on getting an interview with Castro. Whether or not it happens, I don't know. But if that's what he needs to do to do his best work, then go do it. There's no corporate interference, there's no board of directors to deal with, there's no question about what happens to the stock price. It's not my call, so I've just given him the freedom, and the show's amazing.
The response is that it's the only "real" news show on TV. There's no entertainment fluff in it. "Here we sit down with Bruce Springsteen..." that's not news. That makes it unique in this business. In terms of the metrics of success, we're getting thousands of emails in support of the show, and where we're rated -- which is only in California right now -- the numbers are great.
We're winning our time slot against the other HD networks. More importantly, we're beating networks that are standard def that have 10 times the distribution that we do. So by every metric you can think of -- quality, viewership, response -- it's been amazing.
And Dan's amazing. He's 76 years old now, and he's got more energy than 25-year-olds. It's just a great, great show, and we're proud of it.
DF: Last thing...what's the best part about being you?
MC: Everything. That's not to say that there's not bumps and scratches and stuff like that. Doesn't matter what you have that protects your kids from not growing up the way you want them to, but I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I wake up every day just fired up. My one rule is, don't let anyone pinch me, because I don't want to wake up.
I just try to have a good time, enjoy my family, enjoy my life. I was having a blast when I was poor, and I'm having maybe a little bit more now that I've got something in the bank.
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