Mark Cuban blasts hubbub over TV ratings as ‘irrelevant’

Mark Cuban is not bothered by TV ratings.

Cuban owns a minority share in the Dallas Mavericks and spoke out on how he sees reports about the value of the NBA franchise diminished to how many fans are tuning in during game day. He essentially believes that the way of thinking is antiquated and “irrelevant” to the relevance of rating the team.

“It’s not about ratings anymore. You guys love to talk about ratings. Ratings are irrelevant. It’s subscriptions and churn. Do you create new subscriptions? Because that’s the money,” Cuban told Front Office Sports. “Yes, they sell ads, and yes, they want to sell more. But that’s not the primary source of revenue.”

While Cuban might not think that TV ratings matter as much, they do affect what helps the NBA run — money. NBA teams can leverage their ratings for massive television contracts, which has a direct effect on salary caps. Those caps determine how much money they can spend to negotiate for players who have a performance promise or years of experience in the league. In 2026, there are several ways to watch your favorite team via streaming, but what keeps money circulating through the league is primarily through national and local multi-year contracts which then leads to additional revenue sales like ads.

Cuban previously had a majority stake in the NBA franchise but sold 73% of the franchise back in December 2023. The Adelson and Dumont families now have the controlling stake in the franchise. Cuban spoke about his regrets involving the sale, which at the time, closed at a $3.5 billion valuation.

“I don’t regret selling,” Cuban said per ESPN. “I regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”

He shared during his podcast that the reason why he wanted to sell is majority stake was out of an “emotional commitment.”

“You hear the passion and everything,” Cuban said. “Now imagine going up and down like that every single game. That’s hard.

“My kids, they were coming of age where they would have the mindset that they want to work at the Mavs. I didn’t want them to. If fans don’t like what you’re doing or the team’s not doing well, you’re the worst human being on the planet.”

Earlier this month, Cuban purchased an ownership stake in the Canadian team the Brampton Honey Badgers.