Tooley-Led Series will be Unique, Highly Entertaining, and Explore the Past, Present, and Future of the League; Fully Financed Project is in Pre-Production
Thematic Episodes will Follow Intense Competition of Upcoming Summer 2025 Season, Intermixed with 8 Years of Never-Before-Seen League History
LOS ANGELES , Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the BIG3 and veteran producer Tucker Tooley announced a partnership to produce a BIG3 docuseries chronicling the rise and success of the Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz -founded 3-on-3 basketball league. The series will tell the unflinchingly truthful story of the first new sports league to succeed since the UFC. Each episode will delve into the challenges and controversies of the past seven seasons, the eclectic personalities, pinnacles, and heartbreaks on the court as teams vie for the 2025 championship title, and the ongoing off-the-court entrepreneurial challenges of bringing a new sport and league to market. Tooley will produce under his Tooley Entertainment Banner. This announcement follows the recent conclusion of the league’s seventh season, the most viewed BIG3 season on record.
“If you think you know what it takes to start a league. Trust me, it’s a thousand times harder than you think,” said BIG3 Co-CEO Ice Cube. “I’ve consistently done the unlikely, unimaginable, and often uncomfortable thing throughout my career, but this is by far the most difficult venture I’ve ever been a part of. Leagues are launched every day, but the number of successes can be counted on two hands. Almost all fail within 1-2 years, let alone make it to eight seasons. We not only had to launch a league, but we also had to invent a sport – taking a worldwide amateur phenomenon and creating a professional product at the highest level. Fans won’t believe the trials and tribulations we have faced; and still, we’ve made more progress in the sport in seven years than any other league has in decades – creating space for women in sports, allowing CBD and alternative pain management, embracing streaming and influencers. Maybe it was crazy to think that two entertainment guys could disrupt the largest sport in the world, but it’s taken two true outsiders to innovate the game of basketball and create the type of progressive, forward-thinking league that players want to play in, and fans want to watch, and we know that an A+ level producer like Tucker will bring the triumphant, often frustrating, and radically honest story of the BIG3 to life.”
Founded by award-winning musician, actor, director, and producer Ice Cube, and longtime entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz , BIG3 has made waves since its inception in 2017, attracting former NBA stars, top-tier athletes, and fans of all ages. The highly successful breakout league expanded from eight (8) to 12 teams in 2019 and plays the professional sport FIREBALL3, a much-improved version of traditional 3-on-3 basketball, in cities nationwide for 10 weeks each summer. The league aired on FOX for the first two seasons and will be returning to CBS for primary distribution for the sixth consecutive season in 2025, when the league will transition from a touring model to each team representing home markets, including Miami , Houston , and Detroit , among others in the US and internationally. BIG3 is also a driving force of basketball culture, whether on the court with the first female coaches of a men’s professional league, in the streets with the BIG3 Street Tour, or in the community with the YOUNG3 clinics. Over its history, the league has cultivated one of the most diverse and engaged fanbases across all five major sports, averaging 10,000 fans in-arena each weekend. BIG3 successfully attracts historically underserved sports audiences; 50.5% of BIG3 viewers are non-white and 44.5% are female; demographics that mirror those watched on television.
“Ice-Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz are both innovators in their respective realms and to be able to unveil the vision of their creation is fascinating,” said Tooley Entertainment CEO, Tucker Tooley . “BIG3 is not only just pushing sports boundaries but also reshaping cultural limits that I’m excited for the world to see.”
This innovative league combined with Tooley’s guidance creates the perfect edge for television. Tucker Tooley is a renowned film and television producer whose work spans a wide range of critically acclaimed and commercially successful projects. As CEO of Tooley Productions, he has overseen the development and production of hit films such as Den of Thieves, Deliverance, Arthur The King, Concrete Cowboy, and The United States vs. Billie Holliday . Tooley’s films have earned more than $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office. His commitment to delivering compelling, high-quality content has earned him a reputation as one of Hollywood’s top producers.
“In meeting with Tucker, we saw that he gets it. He understands our deep desire to make this work, and we aren’t afraid to show viewers the good, the bad, and the ugly,” said BIG3 Co-CEO Jeff Kwatinetz . “Cube and I truly thought we had seen it all, but we had no idea just how challenging it would be. On top of the general unfeasibility of starting a league, we’ve had to contend with COVID-19, near-bankruptcy, foreign spies, bribery scandals, and fierce opposition from the NBA. We certainly got a lot right, and had a lot of help from others, including luck, to get to this successful place, but we undoubtedly had our share of mistakes. We did the impossible part – getting millions of people around the world to care about a new sport – now, it’s up to our players on the court to battle for the 2025 championship, up to Cube, myself, and our other valued investors and supporters to make season eight the best yet, and up to Tucker to deliver a wildly entertaining and unforgivingly truthful series.”
To learn more about the BIG3 go to BIG3.com and follow @thebig3 on X and Instagram.
ABOUT BIG3:
On January 11, 2017 , the BIG3 was born. The first-ever professional FIREBALL3 league is the brainchild of producer, actor, and music legend Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz , who shared a vision of a player-centric league focused on entertainment and innovation. The BIG3 is a league with no garbage minutes, where trash talk is allowed, defense is emphasized, fast-paced action, and where every point –whether it’s a 4-point or 3-point shot – counts. Any given BIG3 team has hall of famers, icons and trailblazers, and the next best 3-on-3 player.
The league has led the sports industry in diversity and opportunity, becoming the first professional sports league to implement a mental health policy, favor CBD as a pain management alternative to opioids, enlist female coaches of men, and appoint a black Commissioner in Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler , who is also professional sports first former player serving as Commissioner. The inaugural CEO was the legendary, incomparable Raider executive Amy Trask . This January 2024 , BIG3 co-founder Ice Cube was honored at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield , where he received the inaugural Ice Cube Impact Award, acknowledging individuals making substantial contributions to their community, the first non-player to be recognized. Founders Ice Cube and Jeffrey Kwatinetz are missioned to better society as BIG3 pursues business success while also helping to break down stereotypes, promote diversity in sports, create opportunities for black, brown, and female athletes beyond the court, and support the black, youth and basketball communities overall.
ABOUT TUCKER TOOLEY ENTERTAINMENT:
Tucker Tooley Entertainment is a feature film and television finance and production company established by principals Tucker Tooley and Greg Renker . Tooley’s films have grossed more than $2.55 billion at the worldwide box office.
Recent projects include THE DELIVERANCE for Netflix, an elevated suspense-thriller directed by Academy Award nominee Lee Daniels with an all-star cast including Andra Day , Glenn Close , Mo’Nique, Aunjanue Ellis, Caleb McLaughlin , Demi Singleton , and Omar Epps , which opened No1 for the platform in the US; ARTHUR THE KING starring Mark Wahlberg released theatrically by Lionsgate; CONCRETE COWBOY for Netflix starring Idris Elba , THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY for Hulu, which earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win for lead actress Andra Day and was also directed by Daniels.
The company’s next film is the sequel for its successful heist action franchise, DEN OF THIEVES. DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA will reunite stars Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. , as well as writer/director Christian Gudegast , and will be released theatrically by Lionsgate on January 10, 2025 . Additionally their documentary “Finding Satoshi” is set to release in 2025.
Tooley is a Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Producers Guild of America.
CONTACT:
Hannah Palacios , BIG3 (hannah@big3.com )
María Herrera, Tooley (maria@Herrera-Reiss.com )
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SOURCE BIG3