'Sports will bring us back together': Mark Cuban on life post-pandemic
Dallas Mavericks Owner and billionaire Mark Cuban addresses people's concerns over the sports world and how he plans to handle the situation post-pandemic. He joins Yahoo Finance's On the Move panel to discuss.
Video Transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: I want to turn a little bit to sports, because how team owners respond to the men and women who work for them, is the same as how business owners respond to their men and women. And just want to-- I believe the NFL draft is still scheduled at around the same time in April, when the country, at least on the east coast will be reaching the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Cuban, is this a good idea to go forward with the draft, the NFL draft.
MARK CUBAN: Oh yeah. Absolutely, because we need diversions. I mean, we're all stuck at home. We're all looking for things to watch. I mean, why "Shark Tank?" "Shark Tank's" Friday nights on ABC, ratings have skyrocketed. We're seeing multi-year highs, because people are looking for things that they can watch as a family. You know, the NFL draft would be a great diversion.
And I get-- look, there's a lot of serious things going on, but we need entertainment. We need sports. We need something to root for, something to get excited about as communities. We need to rally behind our teams. And so hopefully the NBA will be back sooner rather than later, playing in front of no fans, in a safe environment that puts nobody at risk. I'm not making any date predictions but yeah, having the NFL draft is good. Having the NBA draft, having the NBA play games. Any sport play games. You know, I think we need that.
- Mark, Julia again. I want to step away from sports real quick, and I want to go back to see if there's anything right now-- because you're someone who thinks about evolution, evolving, opportunities. Are you finding opportunities to actually invest and put money to work right now?
MARK CUBAN: Um. Not anything that stood out to me and said, oh, why didn't I think of that? But I'm having a lot of conversations with people. Some little things, right? So one thing that I'm working on, and we're partnering with the American Airlines center, is people-- you know, once we get-- we're allowed out of the house, and even with social distancing or without it, people are going to be concerned going into public places.
So one company is doing a little bar code thing where you know, for instance, on a park bench in a public place, if you're 75 years old and you want to know that it's been sanitized, you'll be able to look at it, see that there's a sticker that says the date when the last time it was sanitized, and have some confidence that that park bench is clean. And then applying that to an escalator in an arena, or stadium, or seat, there as well. So that's one thing.
The second thing is a patent that literally, I'm looking at getting. It-- that says, you know, we're talking about whether or not antibodies can be consistent in someone's blood, and whether or not you'll be infectious or not. And I'm concerned that people are going to start trying to identify, like something out of the future, you know, where OK, you have the antibodies and you have the antibodies, so you can go here, but you haven't had COVID, so you can't come in. And I'm concerned that people are going to start getting patents and really starting to restrict movement, so I applied for a patent that says, you know, any type of identification based off your biological status, then we'll have the patent for that, and I'll immediately put it in the public domain, so nobody can start making money off it.
Maybe it gets denied. Maybe it's a dumb idea. I don't know, but I supported the person who brought it to me, and we kind of worked on it together. And we'll try to get it out there, and if it's approved, we'll put it in the public domain. Because I don't want the bad ideas to overtake potentially good ideas. And then part-- beyond that, there's someone out there that's got an amazing vision for the future, of what we're going to look like on the other side, and those are the ideas hopefully, that I'll start coming to me and other investors, and we'll start-- will help enable them, and you know, great things will happen when we get there.
- Hey Mark, Julie again. To go back to sports in the NBA for a moment.
MARK CUBAN: Aha.
- What do you think changes there, as we go forward? I mean, you were talking about some of the sort of, new ideas and new technologies coming out of this generally. I would imagine some of that is going to have to apply to sports specifically, where you have big gatherings of people. Not to mention places like the locker room. I mean, as we know we had a Utah Jazz player who was among the first to be publicly diagnosed with this thing, because maybe he wasn't being as safe as he should have been.
MARK CUBAN: Of course. Yeah, you know, I'll give you an example. Back in 1991 when Magic Johnson declared he had the HIV virus, it freaked out the entire sports world. And the NBA put in a lot of precautions before we really understood what having HIV meant. You know, there were people who thought it was contagious, it could be transmitted through saliva. Just things that look ridiculous now. And we put different protections into place.
One that carries on-- you know, in the NBA there's an infection control rule where anything that has-- if a player's blood is on his uniform or anywhere, you stop play immediately and you clean it off. That's an example of an adaptation that we took then. We'll do whatever it takes to keep our players, and our fans, and our customers, and our employees, all safe. It'll be safety first and everything will be derivative from there. So whatever it is we have to do, we'll do it, but we'll listen to the people that understand it. The scientists and others, and take their-- and follow their lead.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Mark, I am curious as we look forward. Let's assume the best, that we get through this crisis. Describe to me, how the sports world, the owners and the players, are going to respond to us the fans who buy the tickets, going forward? What's this going to look like, as we come back to large gatherings?
MARK CUBAN: It'll be a love fest. I mean, as I said earlier, safety is going to be first. I'm not going to let my players, my employees, our fans, go anywhere where we're not 100% confident that they're safe. But once we get there, there's going to be such a communal outpouring of love, because we've all been cooped up, and we all recognize that we came through this together. You know, the virus didn't pull any punches. Whether you're rich or poor, you're an athlete or non-athlete, you know, everybody was susceptible. And I think that really is different than anything else we've ever gone through.
Again, I'll say it-- sports is going to bring us back together, and you know, the NBA in particular. You know, safety first, but we're really going to try to be a force in trying to get that communal feeling back together. I mean, just imagine. It's a shame the Olympics are postpone. Because you-- could you imagine the feelings of everybody, you know, one of our teams went on a great run-- I mean, everybody would be standing up and cheering. In their homes, out of their homes, in their backyard, wherever it would be, but we'd all be cheering together.
And so while you know, the NBA, you know, the NFL, whatever it may be, we're city based teams. You're going to see that same communal spirit when we come back and play, and whether there's fans in the arena or not, it won't even matter. Whether we're in front of our TV, or streaming on our phones like this. You know, we just need that communal energy to get us excited and give us something to cheer for again, and I'm confident the NBA is going to lead the way.
- Mark, is Julia again. I actually sourced some questions, and a pretty prominent billionaire wants to know if a presidential run may still be in the cards for you, and if this experience, you know, helping push for change, leading the way, has kind of, renewed your interest in politics, and if you see any pros and cons between getting things done in business, versus getting things done in the public sphere.
MARK CUBAN: You know, everything's changed. And so I'm not going to answer the question, because I don't have an answer. But I will say this, this is American reset 1.0. You know, we get the chance to rewrite all the rules, and do it in a way that's nonpartisan, that puts the people first. Puts everybody on equal footing and says, you know what? Let's just go forward and do this together, we the people.
And so, again, it's not a good answer, but I think it's an opportunity, if not me, then anybody to stand up. I think we're tired of traditional politicians. I think we're tired of the political parties. And there's no better time for somebody to step up and really be a leader. And like I've said many, many times, you don't have to be the leader to be a leader. And in this environment, there's a void of leadership and the door is wide open, whether it's me or anybody else. So sorry to talk around the question, but I think it's an opportunity for the whole country.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Mark Cuban, it's been great to have you here at Yahoo Finance.
MARK CUBAN: Thanks, Adam.
ADAM SHAPIRO: And as everybody mutes their microphones, do not disconnect Mr. Cuban, because I know Julie wants to re-book you to have that health discussion. We'll do that during the first break.
MARK CUBAN: Sure. Hey, let me put my one plug in. "Shark Tank," Friday nights on ABC. Turn on. It's the best family show on all of television. It will-- all new episodes, so tune in.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Mark Cuban is the best, and we are grateful you're here as markets continue to rally.