BIG3 co-Founder Ice Cube said the upstart three-on-three league is "talking about" moving its championship game, slated for Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena, in order to accommodate the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight. Ice Cube said, "If they do what they’re supposed to do, and make us happy, we’ll move. ... I think we’re going to get there” (“Undisputed,” FS1, 6/19).
ARE WE THERE YET? On Long Island, Neil Best notes the BIG3 "must establish itself as something more than the passing whim of a celebrity sports fan," and thus Ice Cube's team is "taking a long view." BIG3 co-Founder Jeff Kwatinetz said, “This isn’t a rapper deciding to do a basketball thing because it seems like a good way to make money. This is someone who thought this out." Ice Cube said that he "never has worked harder at anything in his career." Ice Cube: "We had six months to build a league, promote a league and market a league with just a pool of great people, dedicated to seeing this work. We’re more organized than a lot of (established) leagues already.” Best notes the league has "more going for it than most sports startups." That "includes a TV deal in which Gus Johnson will call the games on FS1, which will show them on delay Monday nights." The championship will then air live on Fox on Aug. 26. Above all else, BIG3 has a "drawing card in Ice Cube himself." At 48, he has "cross-generational appeal and ongoing cultural cachet" (NEWSDAY, 6/20).
