Business

Tracy McGrady bets millions on OBL to start 1-on-1 basketball

Tracy McGrady

Source: Ones Basketball League

This time, Tracy McGrady is believing in her idea.

Basketball Hall of Famer sponsors real estate projects, he supports a sport and entertainment agency, and commit to a Cryptocurrency partnership before sector lost billions of dollars In terms of value. Now, McGrady is investing in his own company, the Ones Basketball League, or OBL, which is launching in New York this weekend.

“I’ve always invested in other people’s ideas and other people’s visions,” McGrady told CNBC in an interview. “Not once have I trusted in my own abilities. I don’t have the confidence to think I’m good enough. I don’t trust my ideas or my decision-making when it’s within my vision. “

He added: “This is the first time I really believe and believe that I can do this.”

McGrady, 43, self-funded the OBL, an 18+ league, through a tour of seven cities from April to July. It pairs players in one-on-one games, a staple of the basketball court. Image of Ice Cube’s Big 3 tournament, but with fewer players and no former NBA stars.

McGrady will pay just under $10 million, all told, including a $250,000 prize pool for the eventual OBL champion. He’s teamed up with longtime sports executive and former XFL president Jeff Pollack to help with the operations. Pollack said the costs associated with the tournament are “negligible” so far.

“That means we’re going to have the opportunity to grow this business and do it in a way that the economics, in the first place, are quite favorable,” Pollack said.

McGrady wants to appeal to a large Generation Z audience, meaning people born after 1997. Then, Media and sponsorship fees, he believes, will follow.

Action in the game OBL

Source: Ones Basketball League

While OBL is new to the sports arena of minor leagues, he pointed to other amateur leagues like corn and bowling that attract niche audiences online and believes OBL can do the same. be like that.

“It’s not disrespectful to the other stuff that ESPN is putting on their show – this is more of a entertainment,” McGrady told CNBC earlier this week at the Standard Hotel in Manhattan.

OBL has found a well-known media facilitator. It has reached a digital distribution agreement with Paramount-showtime network is licensed to allow the network to display OBL content on its YouTube channel as well as cross-promotion.

Terms of the pact were not disclosed, but OBL confirmed it would split the advertising revenue.

McGrady took the key

Drafted in 1997 by the Toronto Raptors, McGrady played 16 seasons in the NBA, including a lengthy stint with the Houston Rockets, and earned more than $160 million, according to Spotrac, a website that tracks sports contracts. McGrady’s earnings include a $92 million contract with the Orlando Magic in 2000. His last NBA season was 2011-12.

He compared OBL to his period with Magic. It lasted only four seasons, but it was the start of seven consecutive All-Star appearances and McGrady’s transformation into “a household name” in the NBA.

“I finally got the key assigned to me and developed into this business [All-Star] “McGrady said.” I don’t see myself as that kind of person. And I didn’t see [OBL] It’s this one. “

OBL debut in february. The league plays regional games with 32 players in seven cities, including New York and Los Angeles. Players who win games in the region earn $10,000. The top three players from the games can compete for a bigger $250,000 payout.

Orlando Magic guard Tracy McGrady (1) kicks the ball past Washington Wizards keeper Rod Strickland during the second time of the game at the TD Waterhouse Center in Orlando, October 31, 2000.

Tony Ranze | AFP | beautiful pictures

McGrady commends his two teenage sons for sparking an interest in one-on-one basketball. He said they don’t actually watch NBA or NCAA games live. “What they’re going to watch: YouTube, short-form content, featured content,” added McGrady.

McGrady isn’t naive about startups. He expects OBL to malfunction and profitability at first will be unlikely. McGrady and Pollack didn’t discuss the specifics around OBL’s monetization scheme, but they hope to eventually profit from licensing, sponsorship, and ticketing deals, which will help generate a return on investment for potential donors.

“Ultimately it comes down to the audience we reach and engage with,” says Pollack. “We have a long way to go.”

He added that OBL will eventually find investors, but at this stage “we want to make sure we have a clear understanding of what this should be and then we plan to grow it.” how.”

OBL is entering a crowded sports media scene. Rivals include Drake- and Jeff Bezos-backing media company Overtime. This media company runs Overtime Elite, or OTE – the tournament that pay high school students $100,000 with a following generation Z set up.

Macroeconomic concerns, including inflation, threaten early growth. When asked about these factors, Pollack suggested OBL would play the long game.

“We’re in a tough economic time and it could get worse,” Pollack said. “But we’re going to get out of it at some point, and what we’ve seen over the last few years is that consumer appetite for sports content remains as insatiable as it once was.”

If OBL gets its target audience to watch sports content on social media, McGrady has plans to grow the company globally.

“I have the right team to make it happen,” he said. “I think we’ve identified a pattern that’s very interesting.”

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