Ice Cube’s Big3 basketball league has revealed a massive valuation as it plans to go public later this year.
On Friday (June 12), the basketball league co-founded by Cube announced that it had reached a deal with the special purpose acquisition company, Graf Global Corp. With the deal in place, fans will be able to purchase stock in the league under the ticker TONT (three-on-three) in the fourth quarter of the year.
With the announcement came the reveal that the company is eyeing a $290 million valuation, per Business Wire.
"You can't participate in the upside of the team besides winning," Ice Cube said of the deal. "And we need the fans for the league to be successful, so it's a match made in heaven."
The Big3’s valuation comes ahead of the league starting its ninth season in Los Angeles on June 20 with four games: Detroit Amps vs. DMV Trilogy, LA Riot vs. Miami 305, Houston Rig Hands vs. Chicago Triplets, and Dallas Power vs. Boston Ball Hogs.
“We are excited for BIG3 to be the first publicly traded professional sports league in the US,” Cube said in a statement. “Leading a new generation of emerging sports, BIG3 connects basketball to culture, fans, and our team communities. Going public is our next step.”
Big3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz added, “Everything is coming together this year.”
“We are excited to partner with Cube, Jeff, and their team to bring BIG3 to the public markets,” James Graf, CEO of Graf Global Corp., said in a statement. “There are few, if any, opportunities for public markets investors to own equity directly in professional sports leagues or teams. We believe such investments may deliver uncorrelated returns over time, especially seeing the appreciation of team values and the growth of sports advertising across media.”
Big3’s upcoming move comes a little over two years after the league made a huge play by selling its first team in a $10 million deal. At the time, the league reached a deal with investment firm DCB Sports to give them a team based in Los Angeles.
"We need to plant our roots in cities so we can be more than a rolling all-star game coming through," Cube said in a statement. "It's really about growing the sport and the league.
