Other Sports Businesses
In 2005, Cuban expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2006, Cuban joined an investment group along with Dan Marino, Kevin Millevoi, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to attempt to acquire the Penguins. The franchise ultimately rejected the group's bid.
At World Wrestling Entertainment's 2003 Survivor Series, Cuban was involved in a staged altercation with RAW GM Eric Bischoff and RAW Superstar Randy Orton. On December 7, 2009, Cuban acted as the guest host of WWE Raw, where he got revenge on Randy Orton for his attack on him at Survivor Series 2003, where he was the guest referee in his match against Kofi Kingston when he gave Kingston a fast count. He then announced Orton would face Kingston at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. At the end of the show, Cuban was slammed through a table by then No.1 contender for the WWE Championship, Sheamus.
On September 12, 2007, Cuban said that he was in talks with Vince, Linda, Stephanie, and Shane McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment in creating a mixed martial arts company that would compete with Ultimate Fighting Championship. Cuban is now a bondholder of Zuffa, the UFC's parent company.
Cuban followed up his intentions by organizing "HDNet Fights", a mixed martial arts promotion which airs exclusively on HDNet and premiered on October 13, 2007 with a card headlined by a fight between Erik Paulson and Jeff Ford as well as fights featuring veterans Drew Fickett and Justin Eilers.
Since 2009, Cuban has been a panelist at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
In April, 2010, Cuban loaned the newly formed UFL football league $5 million dollars. He did not own a franchise and he was not involved in day-to-day operations of the league nor of any of its teams. In January 2011, he filed a federal lawsuit against the UFL for their failure to repay the loan by the October 6, 2010 deadline.
Read more about this topic: Mark Cuban
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