June 20, 2025 • 5 mins
Music Legend, Actor and Producer Ice Cube discusses how Big3, the 3-on-3 basketball league he founded, is changing the game with Bloomberg's Romaine Bostick.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Right, we should point
out Game seven of the NBA Finals is this Sunday.
That means the season's wrapping up in the spotlight at
least when it comes to professional basketball. Will now sort
of shift to some of the other leagues out there,
(00:23):
that includes the Big Three. You know ice Cube, he's
a music legend, he's an actor, he's a producer. He's
also the co founder of the Big Three League. This
is three on three half court basketball and it's latest
season just tipped off last week. Week two starts well
this Sunday. I had a chance to sit down with
him to talk about the evolution of the league, the
evolution of team valuations, and what's next for the sport overall.
(00:46):
Take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh, it's more passion. You know, getting in people's face
only goes so far. You know, you got to have
a passion to win and the passion to to you know,
step up to the comp petition.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And that's what we provide.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
You know, we let athletes be themselves because nobody want
to see robots play the game. You know, it's really
about personality, entertainment in good basketball, and so that's what
we provide with the Big Three at a time in
the summer where it's gonna be hard to find a
(01:25):
good game.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's interesting, this is the first season, correct if I'm wrong.
The Big Three is basically focus in specific city. So
before it was kind of touring around, but now you
have specific teams in Chicago, in Dallas and a few
other places here. What was the decision to switch from
that touring format to a more traditional city based format.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Growth. You know, we.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Owned all the teams as far as the league. The
teams were centrally owned, and we knew the brodest league.
Really we had to have owners, team owners who could
really help us, you know, plant flags in these cities
all around the country, even all around the world because
(02:11):
we're looking at London and Mexico City. So having owners
was very important to grow the league and to expand
past the teams we have to you know, sixteen, you know,
twenty twenty four and so on. So it's the you know,
start of the you know, kind of the beginning of
(02:34):
the rest of our lives in a way, because now
we can actually really see this league grow very fast.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
How evaluations the individual team valuations been, Like I mean,
I've seen publicly a couple of numbers throwing around, But
are you seeing a significant increase in those individual team
valuations based on the way you would have valued them,
you know, a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, you know, we're just at the beginnings stages of it.
So you know, right now we say you can get
a team for a bargain basement price, you know, compared
to other franchises that's out there. And so we feel
like we got the greatest upside when it comes to
(03:18):
our business model and how things are structured with the
Big Three.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
So you know, we feel like, you know, we're.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
A great bet if you want to, you know, flip
or you want to are you in it for the
long haul?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
You know, so one day.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
We'll be up there with the big boys and have
those you know, supervaluations.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So I am curious as to where you see Big
Three maybe ten years from now or eight years from now.
I just say, given that we're now eight years from
its inception.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
You know, hopefully.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
In that amount of time, you know, you could be
able to ten times twelve times what we're doing now.
So you know, we do see that these franchises are
going to scale up very fast, and and you know,
people are gonna make a lot money, a lot of money,
(04:13):
you know, especially if they got in early.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So you know, we we do see the curve just
going up.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
But when we talk about like the legitimacy of Big Three,
and I remember when it came out, there a lot
of people kind of scratching their head. Why do we
need this? Why is ice Cube involved? But now you
look at a league that has big corporate partnerships Procter
and Gamble, a partnership with Starter. I was reading about
this old we had to SEEO Red Lobster on the
other day and was talking about the big promotion that
they're doing with the Big Three.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
On top of that, you got Chris.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Haynes, is just a legendary NBA reporter who's now going
to make his home the Big Three.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's big deal, right.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, But look at our history. You know, we have
Hall of Fame commissioner Clyde Drexler. We have Hall of
Fame coaches, you know, from Doctor j to Iceman, George
Gervin to Nancy Leeberman, Gary Payton, now Michael Cooper.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
We got Calvin Murphy.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You know, these are Hall of Fame players, who are
putting a stamp on this league. Some have been around
since the inception of the league.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So you know, we have stampower.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
You know, they wouldn't be around Doctor j wouldn't be
around for eight years if this wasn't something great. So
we know we're you know, on the right path and
we have uh we've been stamped by the greatest that
ever played the game.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And so you know, it's it's really no one who
can look at us and say that, you know, this
is a novelty. This is something that is very well
respected throughout basketball.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Robert ice Cube there the CEO and co founder of
the Big Three Basketball League,
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Right, we should point
out Game seven of the NBA Finals is this Sunday.
That means the season's wrapping up in the spotlight at
least when it comes to professional basketball. Will now sort
of shift to some of the other leagues out there,
(00:23):
that includes the Big Three. You know ice Cube, he's
a music legend, he's an actor, he's a producer. He's
also the co founder of the Big Three League. This
is three on three half court basketball and it's latest
season just tipped off last week. Week two starts well
this Sunday. I had a chance to sit down with
him to talk about the evolution of the league, the
evolution of team valuations, and what's next for the sport overall.
(00:46):
Take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh, it's more passion. You know, getting in people's face
only goes so far. You know, you got to have
a passion to win and the passion to to you know,
step up to the comp petition.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And that's what we provide.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
You know, we let athletes be themselves because nobody want
to see robots play the game. You know, it's really
about personality, entertainment in good basketball, and so that's what
we provide with the Big Three at a time in
the summer where it's gonna be hard to find a
(01:25):
good game.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's interesting, this is the first season, correct if I'm wrong.
The Big Three is basically focus in specific city. So
before it was kind of touring around, but now you
have specific teams in Chicago, in Dallas and a few
other places here. What was the decision to switch from
that touring format to a more traditional city based format.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Growth. You know, we.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Owned all the teams as far as the league. The
teams were centrally owned, and we knew the brodest league.
Really we had to have owners, team owners who could
really help us, you know, plant flags in these cities
all around the country, even all around the world because
(02:11):
we're looking at London and Mexico City. So having owners
was very important to grow the league and to expand
past the teams we have to you know, sixteen, you know,
twenty twenty four and so on. So it's the you know,
start of the you know, kind of the beginning of
(02:34):
the rest of our lives in a way, because now
we can actually really see this league grow very fast.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
How evaluations the individual team valuations been, Like I mean,
I've seen publicly a couple of numbers throwing around, But
are you seeing a significant increase in those individual team
valuations based on the way you would have valued them,
you know, a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, you know, we're just at the beginnings stages of it.
So you know, right now we say you can get
a team for a bargain basement price, you know, compared
to other franchises that's out there. And so we feel
like we got the greatest upside when it comes to
(03:18):
our business model and how things are structured with the
Big Three.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
So you know, we feel like, you know, we're.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
A great bet if you want to, you know, flip
or you want to are you in it for the
long haul?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
You know, so one day.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
We'll be up there with the big boys and have
those you know, supervaluations.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So I am curious as to where you see Big
Three maybe ten years from now or eight years from now.
I just say, given that we're now eight years from
its inception.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
You know, hopefully.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
In that amount of time, you know, you could be
able to ten times twelve times what we're doing now.
So you know, we do see that these franchises are
going to scale up very fast, and and you know,
people are gonna make a lot money, a lot of money,
(04:13):
you know, especially if they got in early.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So you know, we we do see the curve just
going up.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
But when we talk about like the legitimacy of Big Three,
and I remember when it came out, there a lot
of people kind of scratching their head. Why do we
need this? Why is ice Cube involved? But now you
look at a league that has big corporate partnerships Procter
and Gamble, a partnership with Starter. I was reading about
this old we had to SEEO Red Lobster on the
other day and was talking about the big promotion that
they're doing with the Big Three.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
On top of that, you got Chris.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Haynes, is just a legendary NBA reporter who's now going
to make his home the Big Three.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's big deal, right.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, But look at our history. You know, we have
Hall of Fame commissioner Clyde Drexler. We have Hall of
Fame coaches, you know, from Doctor j to Iceman, George
Gervin to Nancy Leeberman, Gary Payton, now Michael Cooper.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
We got Calvin Murphy.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You know, these are Hall of Fame players, who are
putting a stamp on this league. Some have been around
since the inception of the league.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So you know, we have stampower.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
You know, they wouldn't be around Doctor j wouldn't be
around for eight years if this wasn't something great. So
we know we're you know, on the right path and
we have uh we've been stamped by the greatest that
ever played the game.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And so you know, it's it's really no one who
can look at us and say that, you know, this
is a novelty. This is something that is very well
respected throughout basketball.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Robert ice Cube there the CEO and co founder of
the Big Three Basketball League,
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