

The Mavs are a Business Unlike Any Other - isalmon
http://blogmaverick.com/2013/02/12/the-nba-is-a-business-unlike-any-other/

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liber8
It's interesting that Cuban takes this position, when he's the owner who
likely treats his team like more of a business than any other owner in the
NBA. Cuban, unlike Donald Sterling and many other owners, actually tries to
deliver a good product and good service to his customers. That's what
businesses do, and that's how they remain successful. Just because you have
passionate fans doesn't make the business different (and in fact, teams have
passionate fans because they run good businesses). Sports fans aren't any
different than the fans who camp out for the latest iphone or playstation, run
message boards for their favorite bands or celebrities, or plaster "MOPAR
SUCKS" stickers all over their Fords.

Many other franchise owners don't act like Cuban precisely because the
government has created an environment where sports teams don't need to operate
like other businesses. The leagues are granted state-sanctioned monopolies
and, due to Americans' abundant free time and income, many teams get to coast
by on revenue generated by other teams. Owners like Donald Sterling got to
print money for two decades despite the dreadful fan experience or the team's
record. That's what makes owning a franchise a business unlike any other.

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sebkomianos
tl;dr - "No city has ever thrown a parade for a local company that has had a
great quarter or year."

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ececconi
Wasn't occupy wall street a very long parade?

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sebkomianos
I am not from the US but from what I understand "Occupy Wall Street" was a
parade against, and not for, something. Am I wrong?

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ececconi
You are entirely correct. I was making a joke.

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coryl
Sports is a funny business - depending on the market, you could lose every
game and still make tons of money. Some teams just have huge demand for
tickets + tv and wont ever stop.

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jivatmanx
Example: Chicago Cubs

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ikailan
Second example: The Golden State Warriors. Go Dubs!

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DamnYuppie
Not really on topic but an interesting point given he mentioned the fan
experience. Going to Mavs games used to be fun. But the level of police
presents has ratched up very quickly over the last few years and has detracted
from the fun of going so a lot of people I know no longer go. At the rate it
is going you will need to be water boarded to get into the arena as part of
the "security check".

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majormajor
Interesting, I don't go to many Mavs games, but was there about a month ago
(the day before NYE) and didn't experience that at all. I haven't noticed a
worsening trend at Stars games at AAC, either -- I remember about five years
ago having an annoying security experience, complete with a line at some metal
detectors, but in the past few years it's seemed to get quicker, if anything,
for the Stars.

It wasn't exactly "fun" anyway, though, cause they couldn't buy a basket and
got blown out by the Spurs... but that's a different issue!

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vannevar
The unique role that sports teams play in their communities makes it all the
more sad when they sell their fans out to advertisers, by doing things like
selling naming rights to a stadium or plastering ads on players' uniforms.

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jmduke
I disagree. I think the vast majority of sports fans don't really care that
their stadium is the SunLife Stadium, or that their uniforms have a Microsoft
logo plastered on.

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peterevans
It varies. Baseball fans I think would look at advertising on uniforms as
distasteful if not disrespectful, but soccer fans don't seem to mind. Context
matters, and that goes for stadium naming rights. In Newcastle, efforts to
rename a stadium ran into significant opposition:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James_Park#Renaming_of_the_s...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James_Park#Renaming_of_the_stadium)

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shardling
Your link is incorrect, it should be:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James%27_Park#Renaming_of_th...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James%27_Park#Renaming_of_the_stadium)

