Mark Cuban: Team values will double after sports betting ruling
The value of pro sports franchises could skyrocket after the Supreme Court’s decision Monday to strike down a federal ban on sports betting, according to Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire investor.
“Everybody who owns ‘top-four’ professional sports team just basically saw the value of their team double at least,” Cuban told CNBC, referring to teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.
The Mavericks, the NBA franchise Cuban has owned since 2000, were valued at an estimated $1.9 billion in the most recent Forbes calculations. The average franchise is worth $2.5 billion in the NFL, $1.65 billion in the NBA, $1.645 billion in Major League Baseball and $594 million in the NHL, according to the financial publication.
The Houston Rockets were sold to billionaire restaurant and casino magnate Tilman Fertitta for $2.2 billion last year – the most ever for a franchise in the four major sports leagues.
The Supreme Court’s decision unwound a 1992 provision that banned sports betting in all but four states. Major sports leagues had long opposed legalized sports gambling, arguing that it represented a threat to the integrity of their games and represented a corruption risk.
Some leagues, including the NBA and Major League Baseball, expressed support for a legalized, regulated market in recent months. The NFL and NBA called on Congress on Monday to enact federal regulations for the gambling marketplace.
“We remain in favor of a federal framework that would provide a uniform approach to sports gambling in states that choose to permit it, but we will remain active in ongoing discussions with state legislatures,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Regardless of the particulars of any future sports betting law, the integrity of our game remains our highest priority.”
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