After most of the attention was focused on the newly enacted Texas law that amounts to a near-total ban on abortion, another popular measure in the state goes largely unnoticed.
Effective 8 September 2021, the new measures requires any Texas professional sports team that receives state funding to play the national anthem during games. That measure, which began life in February with bipartisan support, has been dubbed the Star Spangled Banner Protection Act. But basketball fans may soon come to know it by another name – the Mark Cuban Rule.
Even Democrats in the Texas Senate overwhelmingly crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the conservative-backed bill.
Ten of the 13 Senate Democrats joined all 18 Republicans in supporting the bill. Just Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, of Austin, and Sen. Nathan Johnson, of Dallas, opposed it, while Democratic Sen. José Menéndez was absent from the chamber.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the 28-2 vote in favor of the bill "one of the more surprising votes" in his career. A spokesperson for Patrick later said that he was surprised that some Democrats voted against the legislation.
Athletes protesting the national anthem has become a divisive and partisan issue, since Colin Kaepernick began kneeling to protest police brutality against Black Americans.
In February, Patrick named the bill one of his legislative priorities after Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, stopped playing the anthem prior to home games, which went largely unnoticed while games lacked fans in the stands. Cuban had previously expressed support for players kneeling during the "Star Spangled Banner" to protest racial injustices.
That decision quickly drew the ire of conservative lawmakers in the state.
"Sell the franchise and some Texas Patriots will buy it," Patrick said in a tweet at the time. "We ARE the land of free and the home of the brave."
In a public response to the outcry condemning his decision, Cuban expressed support for the anthem, but he said team executives "also loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them." The NBA later said all teams would play the anthem before games.
Since the news of the Cuban Rule broke, the man himself has been largely silent on the issue – tweeting instead, about NFTs, cryptocurrencies and his dazzling star guard Luka Doncic. (The Mavericks PR kindly referred me to Cuban’s earlier comments on the anthem.) It raises the question: What happened to the old Mark Cuban?
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