LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 25: Mark Cuban attends a basketball game between the Los Angeles … [+]
During NBA All-Star Weekend, the NBA officially joined Bluesky, the microblogging social media platform created by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
As of this writing, the NBA — which has almost 15,000 followers — has refrained from posting to the service. Other major U.S. professional sports leagues, such as the NFL, don’t have an official presence on the platform, while others like the NHL and MLB have an account, but are not active.
A source familiar with the situation tells me that the NBA in particular is in discussions with Bluesky to determine the league’s content strategy for the platform.
The Portland Trail Blazers are active on the platform. It’s unclear to me, though, if there are more NBA franchises on Bluesky, which is seen by some users as an alternative service to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, who has been one of the more outspoken critics of X since billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022, made his case for Bluesky, a platform with 30-plus million users, to me in January.
When asked about the state of #SportsTwitter and what would compel more major U.S. professional sports leagues, teams and media to utilize Bluesky, Cuban presented his argument. Cuban wrote via email that he believes leagues use X as “the default,” but are “open to adding new sources of fan engagement.”
“Bluesky is great for the leagues, but even better for athletes,” said Cuban, who has 1.3 million followers on the platform. “Twitter has limited engagement tools, and they seem to be reducing the control users have over their feeds.” NBA stars and athletes from other major U.S. professional sports are currently absent from Bluesky.
To Cuban, the most important component of Bluesky is that it’s a moderated platform. “They want conversations to be civil,” he said of the “more fan and kid-friendly” social environment. “They want disagreements to be civil. They enforce their terms of service.”
Cuban, who sold his majority stake in the Mavericks to billionaire Miriam Adelson and her family in 2023 at a reported valuation in the range of $3.5 billion, explained that Bluesky “gives far greater and more granular control to posters.” That includes hiding replies and blocking trolls, he said, though similar features are also included on X. He said, “My mentions on Bluesky rarely have anything hateful. It’s the opposite on X.”
Cuban, who still remains active on X with over nine million followers, added, “No one wants to be engaging with fans or their favorite athlete and find porn and hate. It can lead to rash responses from the athlete. It can hurt the brand of the athlete and league if viewers associate the hate with the brand.”
According to Cuban, Bluesky is the lone platform that “truly allows for engagement that is social.” He concluded, “Athletes can have fun conversations with fans. It’s actually refreshing. That’s a huge win for leagues, athletes, celebrities and anyone who wants social media to be social again.”
