Mark Cuban should buy an MLS team

Bill Hambrecht, you see, is starting up a professional football league. So far, he and his partner, Tim Armstrong, a senior executive at Google, have pledged $2 million each. They’ve hired a C.E.O. and a C.O.O., both of whom cut their teeth at the National Basketball Association. They’ve got a name: the United Football League. And they’ve lined up a wealthy, well-known businessman as their first owner: Mark Cuban, the billionaire who owns the N.B.A.’s Dallas Mavericks. Like Hambrecht, Cuban loves nothing more than confronting the status quo.

I’m all for challenging the status quo but I’m afraid that taking on the NFL juggernaut is just stupid. Heck, if the XFL and Jesse Ventura couldn’t do it, it simply isn’t possible. If Cuban wants to do something crazy, how about wasting his money on soccer (rather than wasting it on football)?

The problem, I suspect, is that he has never considered it. I’m afraid that says more abut the American soccer institution than it does about Cuban. American billionaires (a growing subset, by the way) love to throw their money at enterprises that have potential. Why haven’t MLS and SUM approached Mark Cuban, who (somehow) made money from the ill-fated Broadcast.com? Surely he (and his peers) could be convinced of the potential.

Moreover, don’t you think the MLS be a lot more fun with Cuban around? Can you imagine his postgame outbursts after one of his players was sent off? What would he say about international soccer, FIFA, or Sepp Blatter?

Mark Cuban as an MLS owner would be just like Eric Wynalda, only slightly less drunk and with a lot more money.

Update: As Mike points out in the comments, “Cuban is involved with MLS as owner of HDNet. I’m guessing that if he was to own a team, the deal with his TV station would need to change.”

He’s absolutely right and it’s a point about which a number of you e-mailed me.

It’s not that I’m saying “Mark Cuban, specifically, is the answer to MLS’ prayers.” What I’m saying is that MLS should market its franchising opportunities more creatively.