Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revealed plans to accept cryptocurrency for tickets and merchandise next season, beginning with CyberMiles Tokens, Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Mavericks will be among the first NBA franchise to do so, joining the likes of the Sacramento Kings who began taking Bitcoin back in 2014.
Cuban had previously indicated a general plan to include cryptocurrency earlier this year but offered more specifics this week when announcing that the Mavericks’ jersey patch sponsor will be 5miles, a Dallas-headquartered local marketplace for the selling of goods and services that accepts CyberMiles Tokens, a blockchain platform, as a currency option.
5miles founder and CEO Lucas Lu, who has a Ph.D. in particle physics, initially reached out to Cuban last year.
“This is probably the first deal ever done for a jersey patch where the first exchange was a white paper on cryptocurrencies,” Cuban said at a press conference announcing the deal.
“One of the things that they’re taking the lead on that I think is important is combining the blockchain with a marketplace in order to create a safer environment and a more secure environment,” he added.
Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes will be a brand ambassador for 5miles, whose orange logo will appear in a patch on the uniform. The team and company will also collaborate on community initiatives, including the Entrepreneurial Expedition the Mavericks began last year.
Cuban said that the inclusion of cryptocurrencies “had a lot to do with our working with 5miles.”
“I’ve always tried to be two steps ahead, and that’s where we really got the greatest match,” Cuban said.
The announcement came two weeks after a Sports Illustrated article alleged a “corrosive workplace culture” with “misogyny and predatory sexual behavior” and a day before a sexual assault allegation against Cuban from 2011 resurfaced in a Willamette Week story. Cuban has denied the allegation against him and also told SI of his team’s apparent corporate culture, “It’s not something that’s acceptable. I’m embarrassed, to be honest with you, that it happened under my ownership, and it needs to be fixed. Period. End of story.”
When asked if there was apprehension about starting the deal after the SI report, 5miles CFO Garwin Chan, who appeared with Lu at the press conference, said, “What we are comfortable with is, based on our interaction and our experience working with Mark and his team, they’re been nothing but a world-class organization so far. So from everything that I understand, also assurances that the Mavs organization has given to us, they’re putting everything they can do to investigate exactly what happened and also put in place best practices. And we’re completely supportive of that.”
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The negotiation took place on and off for six-to-nine months, and the agreement lasts through at least the end of the 2019-2020 season.
“As tech entrepreneurs ourselves, this also is an opportunity to affiliate with the owner of the Dallas Mavericks,” Lu said in a statement. “Mark Cuban built his success in the tech industry, and his business-savvy and the journey that got him to where he is today is something we admire as it parallels our own.”