National Spotlight: Jonah Ballow with Mark Cuban

Jonah Ballow with Mark Cuban

Jonah: Welcome to Timberwolves.com, I’m Jonah Ballow with Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks here at the Target Center. As an owner in this league, I want to get your thoughts on the state of the economy. What are you feeling the effects are going to be for NBA teams and a franchise like the Dallas Mavericks?

Mark: The economy goes through fits and starts over the long haul anyway. With the Mavericks, this is the third year in a row we have lowered ticket prices, particularly in the upper bowl. We were ahead of the curve and anticipated it. We are trying to make it as affordable as we can, we have $2 tickets, $5 tickets, $10 tickets, so more than half of our seats are $15 or less. We have really tried to be aggressive and make things affordable.

Jonah: I spoke with Darren Rovell of CNBC and he said 2009-10 would be the year of the fan because fans will get a chance to go to games and it will be an affordable price for families. Do you feel the same way?

Mark: Yes, it’s a shame that he is right. The reality is that it should always be the year of the fan. You will start to see it with baseball. We will see what happens with baseball and some football with the collective bargaining agreement. Darren is right, it will be a year of the fan, and I think baseball will set the trends for us.

Jonah: Have you seen what the Wolves have offered for next season? You can get $5 tickets per game as part of the Early Bird season ticket package.

Mark: That is great, that is awesome. That is the way it should be. We went through a time where people perceived professional sports to be expensive. The reality is…it’s not. The Mavs have done it for a long time, now the Wolves and other teams are showing you that it can be cheaper than going to a movie. Particularly here at the Target Center, because it’s so convenient, so easy and inexpensive to get to and you have a strong downtown area where people can just walk to the games. I think it’s smart, Glen Taylor is a good owner and he knows what he is doing.

Jonah: You are interesting because you can provide a great perspective on social networking and the future of our league. What are your thoughts on the social networking progress we have made and the role of the media covering sports teams?

Mark: The role of the media has changed completely because it’s upside down from where it was five years ago. Newspapers are disappearing and TV coverage is diminishing. To your point, social networking is trying to fill in the gaps but I’m not sure social networking is geared towards doing that. Social networking is more about connecting with friends but the problem with it is people who are hard-core about a music act, team, school, they are going to find ways to connect. The hard part is finding ways to connect to people who aren’t on social networks. Even the folks who come to Target Center tonight, 75 percent of them aren’t looking to their social networks for information about the Wolves or the Mavs. The challenge is trying to find ways outside of social networking to reach them or finding ways to get them to commit to some sort of social networking, whether it’s twittering for updates like the Mavs are doing. We want to get people excited and that doesn’t get people excited. If your friends are into it, than you will be into it. You already know if your friends are into the Wolves, right? You will see the fan buttons or apps on a Facebook page or Myspace page but that’s no surprise anymore. There is nothing really new about that; I don’t think that is going to fill the media void. Some of things that we are doing is going to every college and high school in the area that has a newspaper or delivers sports news and saying, come to the Mavs games, you can take the place of the local newspapers because believe it or not, schools still have newspapers. Looking for non-traditional ways to offer coverage, that is what we are doing. What happens then is, people involved in social media will link back. You have to create outlets for news and the social media connects to them rather than looking to the social media to be the outlet for news. I think I just created another blog post right there.

Jonah: You are on Twitter right now, what do you think about that social networking device? It’s an interesting way to reach a broadband of fans and they can personally feel in touch with you.

Mark: Everybody has the one friend that doesn’t shut up and Twitter turns you into the Seinfeld, “Close Talker.” Twitter is going to be a challenge because the interesting thing about Twitter is the when you find somebody you like to follow, it’s interesting. When you are not sure, it’s really hard to follow a lot of people and keep up and it’s hard to find the right balance. Originally, I had my Twitter updates going into my Facebook but Facebook is different, people don’t want a thousand of updates because it clutters your profile page. Twitter becomes more broadcast and you become a broadcast audience. Twitter is more like traditional TV; where you almost have newscasts right on Twitter because you have a broadcast audience, almost like a cable news network.

Jonah: Should players be allowed to Twitter? Even during games?

Mark: Sure of course. During games, it depends on the coach. Different coaches have different routines during the fifteen minutes or whatever you have. Different players have different routines. If a part of a routine for a player is to change their uniform and just chill, catch their breath and there is nothing going on with the coaches…then fine, who cares.

Jonah: Charlie Villanueva made a great point; a Twitter update is about the same as a halftime interview.

Mark: He is right. Before I took over for the Mavs, back in the day they used to drink and smoke cigarettes in the locker room but that was before my time, so I can think of worse things.

Jonah: All right, the Mavericks are chasing the seventh spot in the playoffs. Right now, you guys are eighth. What is your outlook for the rest of this season? How have you seen this year unfold for your Mavericks?

Mark: We are like a lot of teams, including the Wolves where injuries have been brutal. Josh Howard has been out half of the season, Jerry Stackhouse has been out the whole season, and we lost Jason Terry for long stretches. This will be the first time since the beginning of the season that we have had our whole team except for Stack. Hopefully that has translated into more minutes for James Singleton, Brandon Bass, and Ryan Hollins, which gives them more confidence and allows us to start Josh and put Jason Terry with the second unit. If we can pull all that together, I think we will be much better, kind of like Utah got their guys back and got better. Hopefully, the same thing will apply to us.

Jonah: Who is the most dangerous team in the league right now?

Mark: The healthiest team, whoever that happens to be. You look at anytime right now, San Antonio has had the why did we get blown out games, New Orleans and Phoenix has had those types of games. Utah in the last two games has given up 20-point leads and even the Lakers have had what the hell just happened games. There is no one team that is dominant force. It’s whoever is healthiest and playing the best going into the playoffs, has the best chance. So, there is nothing that would surprise me.

Jonah: Good luck in the rest of season, hopefully we will see your Mavericks in the playoffs and maybe in that seventh spot. That's Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, right here on Timberwolves.com

Mark: Twittering at twitter.com/mcuban or blogmaverick.com