Preston Hollow neighbor and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban showed leadership March 11 when he found out at the Mavs-Denver Nuggets game at American Airlines Center that the NBA season was called off due to the coronavirus. “Mark Cuban stepped forth with calm, logic, reassurance and perhaps most important, accessibility,” wrote Brad Townsend at the Dallas Morning News. In an interview with Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket, he pledged to help arena employees who depend on Mavericks games for income. “We’ll take care of them,” he said. “If you’re getting paid by the hour you’re probably living paycheck-to-paycheck. So think about that if you’re a business owner, to do what you can. And even as you go out and do things in the community, try to support businesses that are like that… There’s going to be a lot of trickle-down effect in a negative scenario where small companies, not just travel, but a bakery, a corner store, anything you possibly can imagine, they’re all going to be impacted.”
Watch this video of Cuban’s interview with ESPN after he received the news about the NBA season’s cancellation. “It’s stunning, but we are where we are,” Cuban said. “We have to be smart in how we respond. This is people’s lives at stakes. This isn’t about basketball, this isn’t about the Mavericks. This isn’t about when do we start, do we start? Or how do we start? This is a pandemic, a global pandemic where people’s lives are at stake. I’m a lot more worried about my kids and my mom who is 82 years old — in talking to her and telling her to stay in the house — than when we play in our next game.”
