Ice Cube’s 3-on-3 basketball league has a new broadcast home to complement its existing CBS deal. The BIG3 announced Tuesday that BET will re-air league games on Tuesday nights in primetime throughout the 2026 season, with two-hour windows from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT beginning June 22. The package covers 21 hours of programming in total, including regular-season matchups, playoff games, the championship, celebrity games, and All-Star content. Live games will continue to air on CBS first, with BET providing the secondary window for fans who missed the original broadcast.
“BET is a natural partner for BIG3 because they understand the intersection of sports, entertainment, and culture better than anyone,” Ice Cube said in the announcement. “Our fans want more ways to engage with the league beyond live games, and this partnership gives them exactly that. Monday night primetime on BET helps us expand our reach and keep the momentum going all summer long.”
“BIG3 has built something truly special at the crossroads of sports, entertainment, and culture, making this partnership a natural fit for BET,” said BET president Louis Carr. “Our audiences are passionate about basketball and the stories, personalities, and communities that surround it. By bringing BIG3 to BET primetime, we’re creating another destination for fans to experience the excitement of the league while continuing our commitment to celebrating the culture that drives the game forward.”
BIG3 launched in 2017 on FS1 on a tape-delay basis before drawing strong enough ratings on Fox in Season 2 to attract CBS ahead of the 2019 season. That CBS deal — which brought live games to both the broadcast network and CBS Sports Network across Saturdays and Sundays — has been the foundation of the league’s broadcast strategy ever since, surviving a canceled 2020 season due to the pandemic and continuing through the league’s return in 2021 and beyond. CBS renewed its relationship with the league ahead of the 2024 season, with BIG3 returning to CBS and Paramount+. Last year, Vice TV picked up 14 regular-season games as an additional partner as the league transitioned to a home-market model for Season 8, its first time operating with teams representing specific cities.
The BET deal gives BIG3 something it hasn’t had since Season 2 — a weekday primetime window — and a meaningful second platform alongside CBS. In a statement, BIG3 co-founder Josh Kwatinetz said the deal’s structure reflects how the league approaches reaching fans who aren’t already tuning in to CBS on Saturdays.
“One of our biggest priorities has always been making BIG3 as accessible as possible to fans,” Kwatinetz said. “BET gives us an opportunity to extend the reach of our live broadcasts while introducing the league to new audiences. BIG3 has always lived at the intersection of basketball, entertainment, and culture, and BET understands that space better than almost anyone. This partnership is a natural fit and another important step in the continued growth of the league.”
He added: “If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that fans want flexibility in how they consume sports. Live broadcasts remain incredibly important, but audiences are engaging with content across multiple platforms and at different times. This partnership allows us to meet fans where they are, extend the conversation beyond game day, and continue building the BIG3 audience in a way that reflects how people watch sports today.”
BET will also support the partnership with promotional efforts across its network platforms. BIG3’s ninth season tips off June 20 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles before traveling to cities across the country throughout the summer.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.