Mark Cuban: 'The NFL is 10 years away from an implosion'

Mark Cuban knows more about business, sports and the business of sports than just about anyone in America. Just ask him. 

He's also no stranger to going out on a limb at the risk of looking foolish - anyone remember The Benefactor? - so Sunday's quote predicting the demise of the NFL shouldn't shock anyone.

"I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion," Cuban told ESPN Dallas on Sunday. "I'm just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they're getting hoggy. Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way.

"I'm just telling you, when you've got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That's rule number one of business."

Cuban's ire is directed at the NFL's expansion of its television package into Thursday nights. The NFL has actively worked to dominate the American sporting calendar throughout the year, moving the NFL Draft to May in an effort to have at least one major event every month of the off-season. 

"They're trying to take over every night of TV," Cuban said. "Initially, it'll be, 'Yeah, they're the biggest-rating thing that there is.' OK, Thursday, that's great, regardless of whether it impacts [the NBA] during that period when we cross over. Then if it gets Saturday, now you're impacting colleges. Now it's on four days a week. ...

"It's all football. At some point, the people get sick of it."

Of course, no one stands to benefit more from a stumbling NFL than the owners in a competing professional sports like like, perhaps, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. 

In addition to pro sports, Cuban has also forayed into reality television with The Benefactor and the current ABC hit Shark Tank. He cited the rapid rise and fall of Who Wants to be a Millionaire to drive his point home. 

"They put it on every night. Not 100 percent analogous, but they handled it the same," Cuban said. 

"I'm just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."