As a first-year student at Harvard Law School in 1988, Jeff Kwatinetz remembers listening to “Straight Outta Compton,” the iconic rap album released that year.
About a decade later, when Kwatinetz formed his entertainment and production company, known as The Firm, he signed former NWA legend Ice Cube to a contract. It was the start of an unlikely friendship and business partnership that remains as strong as ever.
Kwatinetz and Ice Cube have worked on numerous television and film projects together. And in January 2017, they co-founded the BIG3, a three-on-three, half-court summer basketball league featuring numerous recognizable former NBA players. The league plays its games in major arenas throughout the country on 10 consecutive weekends from late June following the NBA Finals to early September before the NFL regular season begins.
The BIG3 is now in its third year, which is an achievement considering the number of start-up sports leagues that failed to make it that far. For instance, the Alliance of American Football received a lot of attention when it played its first games in February, but the league filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy two months later.
Still, that’s not to say the BIG3 has been operating without a hitch since its inception.
The league announced last Wednesday that ex-NBA players Lamar Odom, Bonzi Wells, Baron Davis and Jermaine O’Neal had been “deactivated” for the season, meaning they would no longer be allowed to play for their teams. All four players were on rosters this season, but Odom was the only one to actually appear in a game. Odom scored two points in the season opener before sitting out the next two games. The BIG3 didn’t provide a reason for kicking the players out of the league, although Ice Cube told TMZ Sports that “as a league, we want players that are actually playing,” hinting that they were not in shape or ready to compete. O’Neal, though, will remain a member of the league’s board of directors and provide guidance to its executives.
The press release also noted that “several league personnel changes will also be made in order to maximize communication and the smooth running of the league.” The BIG3, however, intends to keep its leadership team intact, including NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler as commissioner and former Oakland Raiders chief executive Amy Trask as chairman of the board.
And the BIG3 last week decided to reduce the price of its tickets by 50 percent for the remainder of the season. Attendance had decreased to about 10,000 fans per game from 13,000 last season, prompting the league to consider what was wrong. Based on social media feedback, the BIG3 found that a lot of fans complained the tickets were too expensive. NBA Summer League games start at $25 per ticket for 10 games compared with a minimum of $27.50 per ticket for a BIG3 tripleheader. Add in taxes and fees from the arena and TicketMaster, and the BIG3 tickets approach $50 apiece.
“If a Dad or Mom wants to bring a family of four, you’re looking at $200 before parking, merchandise, food,” Kwatinetz said. “We read through a lot of responses. Cube and I look at that stuff, and it breaks our heart. We don’t want people to not be able to participate. And for the long run of the sport, it’s also good business.”
He added: “For the long term of the league, we need people to see it. If we get a lot of people saying they can’t go because they can’t afford it, then that’s not good for the league long-term.”
Kwatinetz also attributed some of the attendance drop to the fact that games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons this year compared with Friday nights last year. The league altered the schedule because it changed television partners.
After Fox televised BIG3 games the first two years, the league switched this year to CBS, which is airing 20 hours on CBS and an additional 25 hours on the CBS Sports Network.
So far, the television numbers have not been as high as last year. Last weekend, for instance, the BIG3 games on CBS had a 0.5 rating and drew 713,000 viewers, slightly down in rating and a 22 percent decline in viewership from a year ago on FOX, according to the Sports Media Watch website. However, this year’s games aired opposite the Women’s World Cup final, while last year’s games went up against little competition on a Friday night. The BIG3 also contends it’s drawing a younger demographic than CBS typically sees in those timeslots.
Kwatinetz said the league could have signed a more lucrative deal with a streaming platform, but it chose CBS because it would lead to wider distribution.
“For any young sport, the key is exposure,” he said. “This gives us the widest exposure. They have been great to work with.”
He added: “It’s a great opportunity. We got on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. What could be better? If we had just gone for the money, we’d be making more money, but we’d be seen by a lot less people. We’re not in this to make some quick bucks and sell. We really believe in this for the long run.”
Kwatinetz believes the financial backing of the league is more secure and transparent than it was in the early days, as well. In April 2018, two months before the second season began, Kwatinetz and Ice Cube filed a lawsuit against investors from Qatar whom they alleged failed to fully fund their investment and attempted to take control of the league. A U.S. District Court Judge dismissed most, but not all, of the claims late last year. The litigation is ongoing, and the Qataris are no longer involved.
“It’s always important to have investors that are lined up with you in terms of goals,” Kwatinetz said. “I believe we have a great set of investors that are aligned with us. This was a mistake. We trusted some people who vouched for (the Qatari investors), and we shouldn’t have. It was a learning experience.”
The BIG3 has made other changes this year, too. It expanded to 12 teams from eight and lowered the age limit to 27 years old from 30. Some of the top performers so far include former NBA All-Stars Joe Johnson and Amar’e Stoudemire and league veterans Josh Smith, Cuttino Mobley and Ricky Davis.
“Everybody who retires, they’re going to get a call from me, Ice Cube or Thomas Scott (the BIG3’s director of basketball operations and former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach),” Drexler said. “We’re going to make them turn us down. At least they’re going to know they’re wanted because we want the best players in the world.”
As the league has evolved, though, it has found that it can thrive even without the most recognizable ex-stars. When the BIG3 first launched, one of its big signings was Hall of Famer Allen Iverson. But Iverson wasn’t in shape and even got suspended for missing a game. The league now focuses on players who are still able to compete at a high level.
“Cube says, ‘The league is about your game, not your name,’” Kwatinetz said. “We’re not trying to ride off of people’s names. This isn’t the circus or the Harlem Globetrotters. It is entertainment, but the entertainment is by seeing the best three-on-three players in the world. Our guys may be older than the NBA guys, but that means they have more experience and have higher basketball IQ.”
Since Kwatinetz and Ice Cube first broached the idea of starting the BIG3 a few years ago, they have met with executives from other leagues, including the NBA, UFC and Major League Soccer. Both men are huge sports fans and savvy businessmen. They know that the history of pro sports leagues is filled with more failures than successes, so they want to pick the brains of people who have been able to navigate the ups and downs of such ventures. Most of their colleagues are impressed that the BIG3 has been able to make it this far and navigate the challenges of a start-up, but Kwatinetz claims the BIG3 will continue to evolve and change.
“We’re not successful yet,” Kwatinetz said. “We’ll be successful when we’re in year 10 and making money. We’re in year 3. Yeah, we’ve done better than any league since the UFC, but that was 20 years ago. That doesn’t mean we’re successful. We have to build so that in year 10, it’s healthy.”
