The NBA is being investigated by the United States Department of Justice over allegations the league attempted to sabotage Ice Cube’s Big3 league, according to TMZ Sports. The league has denied the allegations.
Ice Cube and Big3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz have met with Department of Justice lawyers regarding concerns the NBA may have engaged in anticompetitive behavior.
The allegations include the NBA interfering with sponsorship deals, discouraging television networks from broadcasting games, and making arbitrary rules to prevent players from joining the league, despite the NBA and Big3 seasons not overlapping.
The report also claims Big3 officials believe they have been “unfairly targeted by the NBA” and sources in the story say NBA owners have been discouraged from investing in Ice Cube’s league.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass told TMZ the allegations were “not true”.
“We have been supportive of the Big3 since its inception, but we declined to invest.”
The NBA would face a substantial fine if found guilty.
I mean this ridiculous in-season tournament is just payback to the NCAA for allowing players to get paid…this isn’t shocking at all
The NBA will have to settle this. There is no shot they risk a trial jury to their fate vs a Celebrity.
The Big3’s average viewership (500k) is less than 1/3 of a regular season NBA game (1.59MM) and wouldn’t crack the top 250 shows in terms of viewership.
This has everything to do with being a niche product; of course you aren’t going to draw the same advertisers as the NBA with such limited reach.
Seems like that would a Federal Trade Commission issue first.
Why would the NBA not sabotage it’s competition? I can believe this happened but that it would be extremely difficult to prove, nobody is going to go out on a limb for Big3 if it means being blackballed by the NBA
Settlement reached. Cube’s attorneys entered negotiations with garlic and holy water. They didn’t even have to bust out the stakes. Ice Cube will be the new Count of the NBA. I mean Commisioner. Silver will be able to feed and then slumber for a century or two.
If I’m an NBA owner, I would not want my players in a separate league, seems like an injury risk.