BIG3 Officially Cancels 2020 Season, Vows 2021 Return

Ice Cube's BIG3 basketball league has officially thrown in the towel on their 2020 season -- but they're adamant they WILL return next season.

"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 league announced.

Some takeaways ...

-- BIG3 says it explored playing at a single location like a Los Angeles studio sound stage, but ultimately decided it just wasn't feasible.

-- BIG3 will also push forward with its "Big Brother" style reality show.

"BIG3: Not in My House" will be premiering sometime before the regular season begins, the league says.

"The BIG3, along with Endemol, was ready to proceed with this show immediately, but were faced with issues because US networks mostly cannot start reality show and studio productions until at least September. We will have to wait until network studio production and scheduling stabilizes."

Ice Cube also issued a statement saying, "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."

"Our goal from day one has always been to provide a remarkable experience full of top-level competition and entertainment."