Cuban letting fans design new Mavs jersey for 2015/2016

Via SportsLogos.Net:

Dallas Mavericks multi-billionaire owner Mark Cuban today announced that his NBA basketball team would be getting new uniforms for the 2015-16 season… well, only if they get a decent pro-bono design of course.

Cuban posted the news on his “Blog Maverick” website, offering up the chance that many fans dream of — having their uniform design concept used by a professional team.

Your designs are property of the Dallas Mavericks the second you submit your concept. Concepts are submitted via a comment on his blog post.

Conrad to the rescue!

a lot of the comments bring up a good point that Cuban is being cheap despite being a billionaire... As an artist, it does suck to know that he will "steal" someone's design and pay them nothing for it, but at the same time, it would be cool to have an opportunity to design an NBA jersey that will actually be used without needing to be hired onto some sort of marketing/design company (which I am having a hard time doing)

a lot of the comments bring up a good point that Cuban is being cheap despite being a billionaire

Fox Butterfield, Is That You?

Considering the money that the Mavericks would obviously make off the design in terms of merchandising, it is kind of cheap; you'd think a once-off payment to buy the design wouldn't go astray. That said, if you're an artist/designer, the opportunities it could lead to arguably offset that. It's also not really stealing when he's laying out the terms very clearly about ownership of the submissions and no promises of any compensation.

There are gobs of legal reasons they have to do this and claim it as their property once submitted. It's pretty much the only way you can even run a contest like this.

It's not stealing at all because you voluntarily submitted it and agreed to the terms. Use a different process if you want to get paid for it.

Use a different process if you want to get paid for it.

From Cuban's post it sounds like the winner will probably get invited to events like the unveiling, tickets to games and stuff too if it's feasible.

One of his replies in the comments to someone upset that he won't hire professionals:

From MC> The thing about talent is that most people think only they have it. If you think people who are not professionals are a threat to you as a professional, that is your issue. If you think i won’t get the best possible design because i’m not paying for a professional, that is a fair position to take. We will see what happens.

On the flip side, maybe there is someone out there who has a single great design in mind and wants to see it turned into a Mavs uniform. Or maybe there is someone who can’t break through all the gatekeepers and politics that most industries (including the design profession I’m guessing) have and this will be their launching pad. That is the beauty of capitalism. We all take our own risks in our own way and we live with the consequences. If I don’t get a design I like, you can laugh at me. Doesn’t mean I will hire you to design anything. But at least you can say “I told you so”. Which i know to many is great satisfaction

We won’t know until we see the results.

From MC> So what you are saying is that I’m not smart enough to pick a design that is truly worthy of the Mavs uniform. That I may be so stupid, because I did not pay for the design, to pick a design simply because it was posted and free. Honeslty, I don’t respect or disrespect professional designers. I don’t have an opinion either way. But I can usually tell when someone feels threatened. That isn’t something you are going to fix by commenting on this blog, or by talking or commenting anywhere.

And let me add this. I have seen a lot of nba uniforms designed by professionals. Have you ever seen a uniform that stood out so much that it may you understand the story of the team’s brand ? Or that even stood out enough to make you take notice that it was more than a uniform ?

either have i.

Submissions thus far have ranged from sketches on a notepad to Miami Heat jerseys to hardcore gay pornography. I guess you get what you pay for.

Ridiculous. The NBA has a strict policy about brands appearing on uniforms and accessories, there's no way the Gucci belt will fly.