Sometimes an investment means nothing
Mark Cuban doesn't know the name of the pickleball team he bought. So why was it news?
Welcome back to Club Sportico, where we break down the intersection of sports and money—with an extra bit of humor and opinion. Today, we’re talking about money that doesn’t matter.
I’ve listened to hundreds of podcast episodes this year, and the most enduring—by far—was Pablo Torre’s debate with Mark Cuban about Steve Ballmer’s alleged salary cap circumvention.
The former Dallas Mavericks owner spent 90 minutes pressure-testing Torre’s reporting, pushing an agenda that was deeply anti-journalism but also deeply insightful. If you’re curious about how a sane billionaire’s brain works, I highly recommend it.
The part that has stuck with me the most, however, has nothing to do with Steve Ballmer, Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers or even the NBA. It’s a five-second clip from the very beginning, when Torre first introduces Cuban.
After mentioning that Cuban still owns 27% of the Dallas Mavericks, Torre mentions the name of the Major League Pickleball franchise that Cuban co-owns. The billionaire admits he doesn’t know the name of the team, before saying that he did commit the money as a “favor to a friend.”
The pickleball investment comes up one more time in the episode, more than an hour later, when Cuban admits that he’s never been to a game. He doesn’t even know what to call it when his team competes!
Compare that to what Cuban said when the investment was announced in Nov. 2022. “I’ve been following pickleball over the past few years, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to invest,” he said in the press release. “I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Media played it up too. “Mavericks’ Mark Cuban joining pickleball ownership ranks,” was the ESPN headline. “Mark Cuban is now the owner of pro pickleball team,” wrote FOX 4 Dallas. “Mark Cuban is First Team Owner for PPA’s VIBE Pickleball,” was Front Office Sports’ version. Even Law360 has a story, headlined “Mark Cuban Buys Team in New Pickleball League.” The list goes on and on. There are literally dozens of them.1
Sports business media—Sportico included—loves to write about fund-raising and investments. It’s a chance to put a flashy dollar figure in a headline, along with some high-profile names. If I’m being more generous, it can highlight what’s receiving attention and capital from smart or notable people. If I’m being the most generous, it’s a good way to chronicle a public figure’s portfolio and potential conflicts.
Rarely is it actually news on the merits. An investment that Mark Cuban says he “couldn’t pass up” may just be something he did as a favor to a friend. A league he says he “can’t wait” to join could end up as something he never attends.
We don’t need to write about every single investment that Kevin Durant makes. And his involvement in Company X doesn’t necessarily say anything about the company or its industry. It might just mean nothing.
It’s fitting that Cuban’s pickleball admission came tucked into this Pablo Torre Finds Out episode, because Torre’s Clippers scoop is a shining example of good reporting about an investment. His multi-chapter thesis is centered on a series of investments made by Ballmer and another Clippers owner into a struggling carbon offset company named Aspiration.
I don’t know if Major League Pickleball has a salary cap, and I have no idea if the Dallas Flash would ever try to circumvent it. Mark Cuban clearly doesn’t know either.
Jacob’s 🔥 Take: A counter-argument: Were it not for all that coverage, would we have gotten this bit of podcast gold?
On the most recent Sporticast episode, Eben and Scott discussed the new class of tech billionaires, growing daily via AI, and debate when/if they’ll turn their money to sports ownership 👇
Club Sportico is a community organized by Sportico, a digital media company launched in 2020 to cover the business side of sports. You can read breaking news, smart analysis, and in-depth features from Eben, Jacob and their colleagues at Sportico.com, and listen to the Sporticast podcast wherever you get your audio. Contact us at club@sportico.com.
Yes, of course I also looked at how Sportico covered the news. We didn’t write about it, but Kurt did mention Mark’s involvement in a broader pickleball story about a month later.