The BIG3 3-on-3 professional basketball league had its debut on Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NYC. All eight teams played, we saw hard fouls, lots of trash talking, a lot of player-fan interaction and a performance from Brooklyn’s own Fabolous. But most importantly, we saw competitive basketball. Ice Cube and his team have the ingredients to make an exceptional, long lasting professional basketball league.
BSO was behind the scenes at Barclays on Sunday and we spoke with league CEO, Amy Trask, and several of the players, and coaches. Trask was so appreciative of the fans, saying:
It was a very full house (over 11,000+) our fans were excited from the first minute to the last. It was exciting to see people like Whoopi Goldberg and LL Cool J and all the NBA players who came out. But the crowd was just sensational, and our players enjoyed interacting with the fans. Our players and coaches want to interact with the fans, and that is something that we do differently from other leagues.
No doubt. The arena was live all afternoon into the early evening and the fans I spoke to were so happy to see some of their favorite former players. One fan told me, it was great to see former stars play basketball in a game that I could afford to bring my family to. Tickets start at $20 for the BIG3 league.
The league’s biggest concern is how to convert the product and make it available immediately for live broadcast. In its current format, 5+ hours don’t translate well for a traditional live broadcast. But basketball is the most social media friendly sport, streaming on a social platform could be an option. Trask and company are definitely working on something, stay tuned.
During today’s play, 3 Headed Monsters player Jason “White Chocolate” Williams suffered an injury as well as Trilogy players Kenyon Martin and Rashad McCants. Martin said, he’ll see how he’s feeling next week but didn’t seem too worried. McCants limped back to the bench from the locker room and when I asked if he was good, he shook his head no. Williams tweaked his right knee and was in what looked like serious pain. We will see where he is physically in two weeks.
Flip the pages for the sights and sounds of the BIG3 debut at Barclays.