The National Anthem Continues to Ring in Dallas: Mark Cuban’s dislike for playing America’s national anthem at sporting events
The Mavericks almost became the first team in NBA history, and possibly the first team in all of North American professional sports, to not play the national anthem before the start of a game after Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, discontinued the tradition. But was Mark Cuban’s abrupt decision to stop playing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at Mavericks’ games wrong? Since the post-Trump era, the national anthem has divided Americans–achieving the exact opposite of its intended purpose of unification. Cuban was justified to stop playing the anthem at American Airlines Center.
In the 20th century, the national anthem was played during wars to unify Americans. Under those circumstances, the national anthem brought the country together; however, times have changed, and the anthem no longer unifies Americans. The divisiveness around the national anthem emerged in the new era that America entered, which Cuban highlighted as a time when marginalized “voices need to be respected and heard.” Thus, Cuban’s choice to suspend the playing of the national anthem at Mavs games was to promote social change. In an ESPN interview, he claimed the organization hopes “that going forward people will take the same passion they have for this issue and apply the same amount of energy to listen to those who feel differently from them.” Cuban centered the national anthem's removal from Mavs games around progression, which the national anthem prevented because of the chaos it caused between its supporters and opposers, according to the owner. Ultimately, fans who support the national anthem at sporting events but do not listen to others who protest are simply ignorant.
Although Cuban faced backlash for announcing the Mavs would not play the national anthem before home games, he made the decision earlier. For the Maverick’s first 13 home games of the regular season, the tunes of the “Star-Spangled Banner” did not echo across the hardwood at the American Airlines Center. Yet, not one fan could tell the difference. Cuban purposefully did not announce the decision to forgo the anthem because he wanted to see if anyone would notice the change on his or her account. No one said a word until the media brought the matter to the public’s attention.
From then on, Cuban received an onslaught of backlash from right-wing conservatives. Thus, the Mavs removing the national anthem was not a problem until the media made it one. Therefore, these national anthem supporters did not care if the team played the national anthem at games; they only wanted to degrade others’ opinions. Right-wing conservatives expressed anger at people who had different perspectives on the matter, not that they believe the flag unifies America. Ultimately, Cuban’s attempt to put an end to division in Dallas fell short. Before the Mavericks’14th home game, the NBA forced Cuban to revert to playing the national anthem at games to abide by league rules. Although Cuban followed NBA commissioner Adam Silver's orders, he affirmed his stance on the subject. Cuban stated that in his ongoing conversations with community leaders in Dallas, it was clear that they felt that the national anthem tradition at sporting events “did not fully represent them.”
A sporting event has always been one of the few places where thousands of people can gather in one area and unify. Recently, when the anthem was played, some people sat, some kneeled, some left their seats to go to the bathroom, and some stood. Mark Cuban noticed that America’s national anthem became a modern-day symbol of disunification and made an honest attempt to fix the issue.
