Ice Cube is always making moves and after overcoming plenty of adversity over the first seven years of his 3-on-3 Big3 pro basketball league, he’s finally ready to start selling teams in the league to private owners.
According to Bloomberg, in a deal worth $10 million, the 3-on-3 basketball league has sold its first team to an outside party.
Ice Cube Sells First Big3 Team For $10M
Led by investment firm DCB Sports, a team of investors has acquired the team, with Los Angeles, California, to serve as its home city. This also launches the league’s transition from a touring league to a city-centric model.
All 12 teams on the roster have been put up for sale. Los Angeles is a prime location, and the market has been set as far as team value. This is another historic move for the league Cube co-founded in 2017 with just eight teams. No teams have been affiliated with major cities until now.
“We need to plant our roots in cities so we can be more than a rolling all-star game coming through,” Ice Cube said in an interview with the outlet. “It’s really about growing the sport and the league.”
Teams in the Big3, which include the 3 Headed Monsters, Ghost Ballers, and more, have been owned and operated by the league.
Reportedly, management aims to announce four new ownership groups by the start of its season, which kicks off in June.
The Barnstorming Days Are Over: Stability Era For Big3
Once all of the teams are sold and they adopt the city-centric model — the Big3 will host games in arenas located in numerous home markets to ensure that each event has a home team. The days of barnstorming are over.
The overall strategy is to allow teams to build their own local fan bases because, at this time, the Big3 brings in roughly 14,000 fans per weekend event and had more than 500,000 viewers on Paramount Global network during the last season.
So there’s enough interest to determine that the league can have permanent home bases and be able to fill those venues on a consistent basis.
3-on-3 Comes To Paris Summer Olympics
With the 3-on-3 format hitting the Paris Summer Olympics in July after debuting at the previous Tokyo Games, Ice Cube’s league (which has different rules but same concept) should gain in popularity even more. Being featured worldwide at the Olympics also creates interest for more teams to be sold to private owners.
“I love the fact that it’s an Olympic sport and we view it as an interesting property,” said DCB Sports Managing Partner Gary LaDrido, whose firm has also invested in horse racing, golf, and soccer teams. “Grabbing the LA market is super cool — and for Ice Cube to trust us to usher that in.”
What Cities Will Be First To Buy a Big3 Franchise: Big3 Going International
London, England and Toronto, Canada, are at the top of the list of home cities for a Big3 team, with U.S. cities still to be announced. The league is considering expanding to 16 teams as early as 2025.
Looks as if Ice Cube and his partner Jeff Kwatinetz continue to have a strong vision for Big3, and despite what he called some hating on his league by the NBA, Cube has been able to maneuver this simple idea into a huge expanding brand and a sport that can attract arenas of fans.
Now we know why Ice Cube offered Cailtin Clark $5M to play in his league. He’s doing big things, and she would probably have been exposed to just as many or more fans than playing in the WNBA for her first season.
And Ice Cube knows that expansion and selling teams off is a positive step forward, but every movement needs a face, so the more household names he can bring into the mix, the better off he will be.
That first season of the Big3, Allen Iverson played one game, but the fact that he got on the court did wonders for the legitimacy of Ice Cube’s league.
Obvious Cube and company had something special when over 15,000 people packed into Barclays Arena to see AI play in Brooklyn.
The Big3 co-founders are like snipers, meticulously choosing the perfect targets to help elevate their burgeoning 3-on-3 professional basketball league, but not wasting ammunition on anything that doesn’t help strengthen the league and the culture it represents.
Going against the grain, while promoting basketball in its most basic form, has been the formula from jump, and it’s working as the league takes its next step in becoming a mainstay in the domestic and international sports landscape.
The beat goes on.
