AP

Mark Cuban has again weighed in on the business practices of the NFL, this time to say he feels a little sorry for Jerry Jones.

Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, has said in the past that the NFL looks like a fattened hog about to get slaughtered. The Cowboys’ status as the NFL’s most valuable franchise with its biggest, most expensive stadium may make them the fattest hog, and Cuban says that’s not necessarily a good thing.

In the midst of talk that the Cowboys are actually at a disadvantage in their own home stadium because so many fans from out of town visit to cheer on the road team, Cuban says Jones has no choice but to charge high prices for tickets so that he can afford to pay off the expensive stadium in Dallas. But when tickets are that expensive, Cowboys season ticket holders feel that they need to sell at least some of their tickets in order to justify the cost, and they often end up selling to fans of rival teams, who show up to cheer against the Cowboys.

“Jerry’s in a catch-22 in a lot of respects because that’s a very, very expensive building,” Cuban said, via the Star-Telegram. “He took one for the team in a lot of respects — I know a lot of people don’t agree. He created a landmark they’re going to talk about in the future like they used to talk about the Astrodome as the Eighth Wonder of the World. He put that landmark right in North Texas and right here for all of us to enjoy the benefits from, and part of having to pay for a $1.2 billion building is [high] ticket prices.”

Cuban says the Mavericks have lowered ticket prices to try to make their games more affordable for all their fans, but the Cowboys have a harder time doing that because the Cowboys’ stadium cost so much.

“I don’t do it to try to make a killing [financially],” Cuban said. “I do it because I feel like we’re property of North Texas and Mavs fans everywhere. Not every seat is going to be affordable, but I want as many of the seats as possible to be affordable, so I just took a different approach. But I don’t have a $1.2 billion building.”

Ultimately, Jones will charge whatever price the market will bear. And Cowboys season ticket holders who want to sell some of their individual game tickets will also charge whatever price the market will bear. And right now, thousands of fans of opposing teams are willing to spend what it takes to go to Jerry World and root against Jerry’s team.