00:56:58 · John Coogan, Ice Cube
[00:56:58] S0: Yeah. [00:56:59] S4: So, it was just to build a better mousetrap, so to speak, and make our game, more fun to play and fun to watch, to make it bite size where you can watch a big three game in a in a hour. Mhmm. Where, you know, most games are three hours. So those kind of things, making a game faster. So rules was... And we argued, you know, back and forth on, you know, the intricacy of the rules and and how we're gonna make our game, you know, great for the public to watch. [00:57:37] S0: What was the most contentious rule, or or what rule were you... When you found it, you were like, this is the secret. This is the rule that's gonna that's gonna make it work. [00:57:48] S4: First to 50 win. [00:57:49] S0: Yeah. [00:57:51] S4: Meaning this was a sprint. No garbage minutes. Okay. Because there are no minutes. And and, you know, there's a fourteen second shot clock though. Yeah. So you can't play around with the ball. You gotta get a shot up. [00:58:05] S0: Yeah. [00:58:05] S4: So those rules, that was to me every game, there's a winning shot. Yeah. You know, there's always a game winning shot in every Big three game. And so to eliminate the clock was to eliminate lazy play. Yeah. And people just watching the clock. Oh, we got a big league. Let the game. Let the time run out. No. You have to score 50 points. So it's a all out sprint to the finish line.
00:58:05 · Ice Cube, John Coogan
[00:58:05] S4: So those rules, that was to me every game, there's a winning shot. Yeah. You know, there's always a game winning shot in every Big three game. And so to eliminate the clock was to eliminate lazy play. Yeah. And people just watching the clock. Oh, we got a big league. Let the game. Let the time run out. No. You have to score 50 points. So it's a all out sprint to the finish line. [00:58:34] S0: Yeah. How did you think about marketing promotion of the league, obviously, of deep roots in media broadly? But what did you think was gonna be the key to raising awareness, getting attendance up, getting distribution in the modern era or through traditional channels? [00:58:55] S4: I mean, we looked at a lot of leagues and, you know, what what fueled them. You know, we we had to look at Vince McMahon. [00:59:04] S0: Yeah. [00:59:06] S4: Dana White. [00:59:07] S0: Yeah.
00:59:07 · John Coogan, Ice Cube
[00:59:07] S0: Yeah. [00:59:09] S4: Leagues that had personalities that could, you know, evangelize the league to the public and and and show the public why they should be interested in professional three on three, and yours truly was the guy. You know? Passionate guy and Founder. Built. Build up, you know, decades of credibility of, you know, I'm not gonna steer you wrong when it comes to, you know, hopefully music and movies and the things that I say are cool. Usually, you know, people agree. So, you know, we had that. And then it was connecting with the history of basketball. You know, some of the greatest names, Doctor. Jay been with the league ten years. Clyde Drexler been with the league ten years. Iceman George Gervin just retired, but he was with the league eight years. Now he's in the front office in our Detroit franchise. Gary Payton been with the league ten years. Nancy Lieberman, eight years. So, it's been, you know, connecting with those great basketball greatness and having them endorse what we're doing, overseeing what we're doing, making sure we're doing it the right way so the athletes are taken care of. And, you know, everybody's happy coaches. We want everybody to have fun with the Big3 and and and make it an enjoyable experience. [01:00:59] S0: How are you attracting new talent, new athletes? Because I can imagine if, somebody who's in the NBA sees you calling, they're gonna pick up. But, at the same time, they might say, hey. I got a couple more years in me. I'm I'm not ready to move on. What what has it been like building the talent pipeline?
01:00:59 · John Coogan, Ice Cube, Luke Igel
[01:00:59] S0: How are you attracting new talent, new athletes? Because I can imagine if, somebody who's in the NBA sees you calling, they're gonna pick up. But, at the same time, they might say, hey. I got a couple more years in me. I'm I'm not ready to move on. What what has it been like building the talent pipeline? [01:01:17] S4: What's been, you know, awesome, we've had some of the greatest players that ever played a game come through our league, you know, for as first round picks, all stars, champions, you know, even hall of famers, you know, when you look at, you know, people like, Allen Iverson playing in the Big3. So, you know, we don't have a problem attracting the talent. The thing is, you know, we wanna offer more. We we we have eight teams. We need to expand that. We need 12 teams. [01:01:49] S3: Mhmm. [01:01:50] S4: We need 16, 20 teams. You know, we always have a pool of players who, you know, wanna play in the big three but can't because it's a numbers game. So this is what, you know, this IPO is gonna allow us to do is expand and to really, you know, grow and have a bigger footprint, which is more attractive to sponsors. Yeah. You know, what's holding us back is we only got 10 games. You know, if we had 20 games or 25 like the NFL, you know, we could really expand, you know, our sponsors, you know, what we can offer to, you know, platform broadcasting, media deals. You know, we just gotta offer more of this good stuff.
01:01:50 · Ice Cube, John Coogan
[01:01:50] S4: We need 16, 20 teams. You know, we always have a pool of players who, you know, wanna play in the big three but can't because it's a numbers game. So this is what, you know, this IPO is gonna allow us to do is expand and to really, you know, grow and have a bigger footprint, which is more attractive to sponsors. Yeah. You know, what's holding us back is we only got 10 games. You know, if we had 20 games or 25 like the NFL, you know, we could really expand, you know, our sponsors, you know, what we can offer to, you know, platform broadcasting, media deals. You know, we just gotta offer more of this good stuff. [01:02:39] S0: Yeah. So, yeah, what else are you using the capital for as you scale the business? Are cities receptive to bringing new teams to town? Is it is it easy to get up and running if you have the if you have the the the capital to go and do a new team in a new city?
01:02:58 · Ice Cube
[01:02:58] S4: Without a doubt, you know, it's pretty turnkey because we owned all the teams Yeah. For so long, even 12, you know. So we were able to make that work and you know, we're able to, you know, get new owners, you know, and and kinda walk em through and and help them get up to speed and then let them take over. Cities have been extremely receptive everywhere we go. They want the big three. You know, we've been to London. We've been to Toronto. You know, we see this as a global league. We want teams in London and Toronto, Mexico City, Puerto Rico. You know, we see this as not just, you know, stuck in The US, but we can expand the league. Yeah. So sky's the limit. You know, we we wanna shore up. We've been a lean and mean league which has been great because we've been cost effective with how we operate but we wanna, you know, hire the best people to help us shore up the foundation of the league and, you know, really work on the growth of the league. You know, we we talking to some smart peep... Talking to some very smart people across the board, and they're just in the wings waiting for the opportunity to help us, you know, kind of exploit and take out the opportunities that's out there. Look, if you look at this, we can own three on three all over the world. Not only it just at the pro level, but the youth level And have the playing three on three all over the world. Big three rules, big three colors, and the public can help us do it. It's amazing opportunity. Yeah.