UPDATED 3/27, 11:25 p.m. ET: It looks like things are coming together. According to Yahoo Sports. Endemol, the media company that produces Big Brother, has partnered with The Big3 for their upcoming quarantined reality-style basketball tournament. Sources told the publication that the tentative title for the show is Big Brother: Big3 and is expected to debut in May.
Jeff Kwatinetz, co-founder of Big3, told Yahoo that safety is a top priority. "Aside from being able to work with the best creative producers possible for this type of show, they’re also the right people to ensure safety and health because they’ve done this for over 20 years in a hundred countries," Kwatinetz said. "They’ve specialized in keeping people in quarantined conditions. If anybody knows what they’re doing, it’s them."
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In addition to making you worry about your job, your money, your health, your parents' health, your ability to fend off cabin fever, and whether or not you're going to have to repeat the eighth grade, the coronavirus has also made sports really suck by getting all of them postponed or canceled.
In an effort to combat that last thing in at least some small way (sorry about the first six), the Big3 reportedly has plans to launch a quarantined reality-style tournament to give the masses something to watch on the sports front.
Obviously, given the league that is running it, this tournament will be of the three-on-three variety. Yahoo Sports reports that the goal is for this tournament to take place in April.
Yahoo adds that league brass (including Ice Cube) have had talks with multiple networks in order to get the tournament broadcasted. According to the outlet's "sources," it is believed the tourney would have international interest.
As for specifics, the preseason competition will feature 16 to 22 Big3 players who have tested negative for the coronavirus. The games would take place under quarantine in Los Angeles, and any player who violates that quarantine would be booted from the premises.
A lot of details need to be ironed out, but the Yahoo report specifically named Joe Johnson, Zach Randolph and Greg Oden as players who could play if such a tournament were to become an actual thing.
As for the court, that'd be built on-site in a "large home provided by the league." The tournament would be composed of seven rounds, with teammates being switched up after the first round. If a player loses three times, he's eliminated. As for the winners, cash prizes adding up to "millions of dollars" will go out to first, second, and third-place finishers.
As mentioned above, the tournament would be a reality-style affair with players having their daily lives filmed for the purpose of additional storylines. There would be a production crew nearby, though not in the actual house.
“As long as we can protect the players, which we will do through proper testing and quarantine, Ice cube and I feel we can give fans some safe, entertaining brand of basketball to get everyone through this pandemic,” league co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz told Yahoo Sports. “Cube and I have been in the entertainment business for 30 years. This is our job. People want to be entertained with all we’re going through and enjoy our sports. We think this will help.”
At the moment, the league's 2020 season is supposed to begin on June 20 (you know, shortly after the NBA Finals were supposed to wrap up). Whether that's optimistic, well, that's up to you.
