Mark Cuban Hints Season 16 Will Be His Last

Mark Cuban is gearing up for a goodbye, it seems, as the businessman hinted Season 16 of ABC‘s Shark Tank will be his last.

Appearing on Showtime‘s podcast All The Smoke with hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Cuban opened up about his career, basketball behind the scenes, and Shark Tank, among other topics. When asked by Barnes and Jackson about his deals tied to the show, Cuban said, “This is our fifteenth year, next year’s sixteenth year is gonna be my last year. So I’ve got one more year to go.”

Renewed for Season 15, ABC hasn’t confirmed Shark Tank‘s future at this time, nor has Cuban’s supposed future exit from the Mark Burnett-created reality hit featuring fellow business giants Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary.

(Credit: ABC/Maarten de Boer)

He added, “I love [the show] because it sends the message the American dream is alive and well.”

“I feel like in doing Shark Tank all these years, we’ve trained multiple generations of entrepreneurs that if somebody can come from Iowa or Sacramento or wherever, and show up on the carpet of Shark Tank and show their business and get a deal, that’s gonna inspire generations of kids,” Cuban continued.

Cuban acknowledged his influence on the show for the past several seasons, saying, “Now we’ve got people coming on saying I watched you when I was 10 years old… I’ve invested in, I don’t know how many hundreds of companies. On a cash basis, I’m down a little bit, but on mark-to-market meeting, the companies are still in operation. I’m way up.”

Currently, in the middle of its Season 15 run, Shark Tank first welcomed Cuban in Season 2 as a guest, and the rest has been history ever since. His exit would bring a big change to the show and mean a big change for fans. How do you feel about his potential departure from the ABC series? Let us know in the comments section below.

Shark Tank, Fridays, 8/7c, ABC