Big3 currently streams its opening game on Facebook, then televises the final three games on FS1GETTY IMAGES
Big3 expansion "could be on the horizon" following the completion of the league's second season in Brooklyn this week, but the "issue with expansion is TV, and how the league would try to get all of its games televised in a one-day window," according to Gary Washburn of the BOSTON GLOBE. The eight-team Big3 currently "streams its opening game on Facebook, then televises the final three games on FS1." If the league expands, it would have to "devise a way to televise all games without expanding the three-hour window." It is "unlikely Fox would be interested in showing four hours of Big3 basketball on Friday evenings." Big3 co-Founder Jeff Kwatinetz said, "I do believe that we're planning on doing a small expansion. We have a lot of players that want in. We want to get some more cities, too." He added, "We will decide and wait a couple of weeks. The demand is there and we're not watering down the quality of the basketball." Washburn noted the league is "becoming more popular among former NBA players." Washburn: "Could the Big3 partner with the NBA in some way to benefit both sides?" Kwatinetz: "We love the NBA and that's why we're doing this." He added, "There haven't been formal talks, but there's obviously advantages to cooperating, and frankly I think we have informally cooperated on a number of issues. ... There's obviously ways we could help each other, but the NBA doesn't need any help" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/19).
