The Risk of Leagues Going Public
Basketball, football, soccer, and so on, leagues have usually operated privately. Investors accelerated invest into the leagues and teams, while fans just bought tickets or bet. However, this is soon about to change as Big3, co-founded by Ice Cube, plans to take the league public. Big3 would become the first sports league to become “public on the stock exchange.” Let’s dive into the pros and cons of how this would change the way of sports.
Fans Become Investors
Since the sports leagues are private, fans never got the opportunity to invest in their favorite leagues. “On average, sport fans spend $1,600 per year to support their teams and fanatical fans spend nearly $2,200 annually. Tickets (60%) and food and drink (54%) are the top overspending culprits overall, with apparel (47%) and travel (36%) closely following.” Sports fans are dedicated to supporting their teams and league, as to some, it’s a family gathering or a generational loyalty to the sport. Plus, fans would even bet specific players during the game, which may seem fun to some. But the odds of betting are a low return due to the betting platforms designed for fans to less likely win money and cause addiction. While investing makes a fan a shareholder and the ROI to be more positive, obviously, you still have to risk assess, as investing comes with risk.
More Capital To Reinvest Into The League
As Big3 already has capital raised from private investors, going public would enable the league to expand into other markets. “When a new team comes to town, they can typically expect to attract new fans, sell more tickets, and merchandise and have more eyeballs on their programming.” This would also make new fans become loyal to the brand based on how the league introduces itself to markets that are unfamiliar to the league. Plus, help countries become a new destination for the sport of basketball alone, where they are not highly recognizable.
Fans Focusing Too Much On Their ROI Than The Enjoyment Of The Game
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However, fans owning a share of the Big3 will be a starting point that will change the sports industry alone. Fans will care much more about their ROI and can turn the league into facing financial issues later down the road. For example, “on March 9th, 2025, thousands of fans marched in protest of the Glazer family (owner) who purchased Manchester’s team in 2005 in a buyout that plunged the team into major debt. Fans tried to take back ownership for decades but unsuccessfully.” Although this example is focused on a team publicity traded, the idea of protest can occur when fans receive major investment losses. Plus, negative communication on social media over the league not performing higher returns than just being in the moment of watching the game.
League Rules Pressures
When fans see their league they love not competitive anymore, they begin to watch it less often. During the 2025–2026 NBA season, “Utah and Indiana Pacers were fined for tanking healthy players to potentially get a better draft pick. Fans start to become upset about not being able to see their favorite players go out and play.” This issue soon brought the league’s commissioner and team to make new league policies moving forward. Although fans are putting pressure on the league execs to make changes on issues that have occurred, execs may begin to accept too much of the fans’ demand for changes or suggestions that could affect the Big3 as a whole due to the worry of investors selling their shares.
Sources:
- “Ice Cube: Ready to Take It To The Next Level.” YouTube, uploaded by Bloomberg Television, June 15 2026
- “The Cost of Fandom: Ally Bank Finds Sports Fans Breaking the Bank for the Love of the Game.” Ally, October 15, 2025
- “Game-chaning moves: How league expansion is helping unlocking growth opportunities in sports.” pwc
- “Why More NFL, MLB, And NBA Teams Are Not Publicity Traded.” CNBC, April 7 2025
- “$100K? Jazz & Pacers Fined for blatant tanking. Doing what they’ve got to do.” Get Up, February 13, 2026
