BIG3 cancels 2020 season amid coronavirus pandemic

The BIG3, the three-on-three basketball competition founded by hip-hop icon and actor Ice Cube that has featured former NBA players, has canceled its 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The league announced the news via an official press release:

The BIG3 always wants to deliver the best for our fans under safe conditions. Due to a confluence of issues including safety, uncertainty of testing, changing government regulations, insurance and liability issues, sponsor and advertiser challenges of their own, and the changing nature of the virus itself, the decision was made to focus on a great return in 2021.

The statement continued:

Ultimately, we need the fan experience and the games themselves to be great. While other leagues have more immediate financial considerations, as a rising league, we need to put the fan experience above all and ensure each season is better than the one before. While we investigated many alternative scenarios, such as playing at a single location like a Los Angeles studio sound stage, the extension of the California stay at home order, California’s constant confusion and changing of the rules when combined with the multiple other issues listed above led to us to determining these scenarios were not feasible.

The BIG3 was originally scheduled to begin on June 20 and run through August 29. After sports competitions around the world shut down in March due to the virus outbreak, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported the BIG3 planned to host a three-on-three quarantined tournament.

It seems that's now off the table.

"We tried everything in our power to give our fans a nice 2020 season but with a long list of obstacles, we decided to shift our focus to having a great 2021 season with our fans in the stands," Ice Cube said in the official BIG3 statement. "Our goal from day one has always been to provide a remarkable experience full of top-level competition and entertainment."

While states such as Florida, Arizona, Texas, New York, and California are all welcoming the returns of sports leagues and competitions, it's believed fans won't be allowed to attend events for the foreseeable future. 

The UFC and NASCAR have held empty-venue events in the United States this month.