Ice Cube’s Big3 is making big moves.
According to Complex, the basketball league sold its first team in a $10 million deal.
What happened is an investment firm named DCB Sports reached a deal with the Big3 that will give them a team located in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg. The deal came on the heels of the Big3 announcing it would move away from its touring method and to a city-based format. Because of this, all of the Big3 teams are on sale.
“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 a statement. “It’s really about growing the sport and the league.”
Before, all the Big3 teams were owned as well as operated by the league. Four more groups will own a team, with the announcement coming in June, just before the new season starts. The league also wants London and Toronto to have squads and expects all teams to have owners by the summer of 2025.
Additionally, the Big3 wants to expand to 16 teams by next season. In the new city-centric format, Big3 games will be played in arenas of home markets, and teams will get to develop their own fanbases.
It’s all coming to fruition for one of the greatest rappers the world has ever seen, so it’s only fitting that Ice Cube has been looking to revolutionize the game he created. In March, Cube offered Caitlin Clark a guaranteed $5 million deal to play in eight regular season games as well as two playoff games. This would have been groundbreaking as Clark would’ve become one of the richest female athletes in the country.
“We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship,” Cube said. “But I won’t deny what’s now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark.
“Why wouldn’t we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3.”
The season will start on June 15 at 3:30 p.m. live on CBS Television Network and Paramount+.
Photo Credit: Instagram – @IceCube
