Ice Cube wasn't happy his BIG3 league championship game had to compete with the Showtime superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, which fell on the same date.
The popular co-founder wasn't happy that the BIG3's season finale, which also landed in Aug. 26, was broadcasting live right around the same time masses of people gathered at local bars and friends' houses to watch a fight where Mayweather became the first undefeated champion to top Rocky Marciano's 49 undefeated bouts in a career.
The BIG3's entire regular season and the first two weeks of the postseason were broadcasted on tape delay, going on-air at primetime in the following Monday. The championship game was the only one aired live, but didn't yield the success it was expected to have due to the much-anticipated fight.
“Pissed off. I was pissed because I felt like I don’t want to share that date with anybody,” Ice Cube told Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated's The Crossover. “I want all the focus to be on the championship. That was our only game live on Fox. Something I wish could have happened on another date. Ain’t nothing going on the next weekend.”
While the game didn't see the ratings success that it was expected to have after a massive success of a first season, the competition itself was as competitive as it could get, with Trilogy's Rashad McCants scoring the last five points to clinch the first-ever trophy and an undefeated season.
The BIG3 was forced to vacate the larger-seating T-Mobile Arena for the Mayweather-McGregor fight, instead switching to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to have the final two games.
Follow Us
Subscribe