The Tale-Winds Behind SlamBall’s Resurgence

“This is a true Cinderella story — only with helmets, pads, and trampolines.”

The kid in me rejoiced last week as #SlamBall graced #sportsbusiness headlines once again with news of an $11m Series A fundraise and an imminent return this summer. Whether the announcement’s timing with #MarchMadness was by design or coincidence, it certainly turned heads.

As a contact sport and league that blends the appeals of basketball, ice hockey, American football, and gymnastics, SlamBall became a pop culture phenomenon during its inaugural run between 2002 and 2004. Played on a court not too dissimilar to basketball, the rims are 10-feet high with four trampolines surrounding each net. Every successful field goal is worth 2 points and players can score 3s by dunking the ball. As athletes take flight, blocks and collisions are fair game on certain parts of the court, which is surrounded by plexiglass walls you would typically see in the #NHL.

SlamBall disbanded after its second season, allegedly due to disagreements with TNN, despite high interest in the product (the debut of season two garnered 2.3 million viewers). A brief return in 2008 in partnership with IMG came with limited airtime on Comcast’s Versus channel, a smaller station, and in direct contention with #NFL and #NASCAR events.

Now, it’s back.

In an increasingly competitive market of ‘alternative sports,’ SlamBall has several unique qualities that position the sport and its #intellectualproperty to excel where the likes of bull riding, bowling, handball, and cornhole have fallen short. These qualities, if adopted correctly, have tremendous potential to increase brand value and resiliency.

Founder Ties

At a time when major sports leagues are run as for-profit entities led by accomplished businesspeople, SlamBall stands out because its founder (and former player), Mason Gordon, remains at the helm. Gordon and co-founder, Michael Tollin, regained the rights to SlamBall from 国际管理集团 in 2022.

Many established leagues have existed for so long now that their founder stories have faded over time. In contrast, Gordon’s anecdotes around SlamBall’s conception are recent, novel, and compelling. They showcase early struggles and triumph. Notably, Gordon met with physics professors at Caltech to ensure that his vision could hypothetically work in practice. By reclaiming ownership, Gordon and Tollin are proof points that the sport’s core values and mission have remained consistent since 2002, despite an extended hiatus.

SlamBall was not bought out of bankruptcy by new owners like the XFL was. There is a more valid comparison to the relaunch of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001, where Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta, and Dana White’s determination to scale and legitimize mixed martial arts – even in the face of government opposition and financial losses – is an indelible part of the promotion’s identity to this day.

Nostalgia

Another powerful element of quality storytelling is nostalgia. Having first watched SlamBall in 2002, I can speak firsthand to its nostalgic appeal and how this has a material impact on IP value.

Nostalgia is essentially reconstructing a past and balancing that with inevitable life changes in the present. It is simultaneously an appreciation of history and an escape from cynical perception of the modern world. One can argue these are the fundamental qualities that make live sports so attractive in general.

The concept of nostalgia echoes the thoughts of 19th century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. He argued that there are two layers of appreciating artistic expression: the artwork itself and the circumstances in which it is consumed by a viewer. If 2002-2004 was a simpler time for returning viewers, those experiences inflate the value of SlamBall’s brand equity.

Similarly, that nostalgia creates more common ground among viewers in the modern day. Dr. Krystine Batcho, a leading professor on the psychology of nostalgia, argues that it “serves an essential function…it is a highly social emotion that connects us with other people…[while] uniting us with our authentic self and reminding us of who we have been.” Nostalgia helps forge group identity and belonging, which can mitigate chronic loneliness in modern society and boost consumers’ wellbeing.

Complementary New Media Format & Distribution

As far back as 2011, Gordon said: "[SlamBall games] are short-format, half-hour…They're the kind of thing you can watch on your Xbox, on your iPhone…you can really engage in so many ways."

In hindsight, Gordon identified the preferences and behaviors of next-gen fans that ring true in 2023. SlamBall games are 20 minutes of action and 30 minutes start to finish. He was ahead of his time.

Younger audiences have shown they aren’t in favor of 2 or 3-hour games, especially when the action is regularly interrupted by a repetitive carousel of ads.?SlamBall’s concise games and a ruleset that encourages high-intensity action are conditioned for sharing across Instagram , YouTube , and TikTok feeds. SlamBall’s return as a short 7-week series also lowers the risk of oversaturating the space, an issue that baseball is facing with 162 games a season.

SlamBall’s viral potential also lends itself to a newer, underutilized revenue stream for sports properties – branded social media content. A deeper dive can be found in my Sportico op-ed from last summer, as well as Horizm’s study into the commercial value of brand-activated posts published by sports teams. SlamBall previously reached large networks overseas, including ones hosted in the UK, Italy, Spain, China, and Australia. This international groundwork is well-suited to the borderless concept of social media sharing.

Despite first launching in the early 2000s, SlamBall has the ingredients to be a sport that Gen Z fans can call their own. We’ve seen the success that Most Valuable Promotions and Misfits Boxing have enjoyed by targeting this audience and breathing new life into #boxing. It will be interesting to see whether SlamBall emulates their embrace of individual personalities, which have proven crossover appeal and an ability to attract fresh eyeballs to a sporting product.

Strong Support Network

SlamBall’s other strengths include supplementary content and financial resources, a mix provided by executives and investors with deep industry networks.

Tollin has kept busy since SlamBall’s first run. Most notably, he served as executive producer of The Last Dance, the Emmy award-winning documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls , which provided a welcome distraction during the peak of the pandemic. In lockstep with SlamBall’s return, Tollin has teased a dedicated docuseries covering the nascent sport, as well as a possible episode in ESPN ’s iconic 30 for 30 series. A halo of complementary content creates more IP and taps into the human affinity for storytelling – giving audiences more reasons to care for the outcome of each game.

On the investor side, SlamBall has backing from IA Sports Ventures and Eberg Capital (co-owners of the Miami Marlins and loanDepot park ), David Blitzer and David Adelman ( Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment ); Michael Rubin ( Fanatics founder); Gary Vaynerchuk; Blake Griffin; Kevin Nagle ( Sacramento Kings ); among others. Such industry luminaries are well-equipped to help the SlamBall unlock commercial opportunities through their professional networks – an advantage that didn’t exist in 2002 or 2008. Their own stories are now part of the sport’s narrative, adding further value to its underlying IP.

Final Thought

All this to say, SlamBall is backed by a diverse set of value-adding factors. If Gordon and Tollin can retain traction after the league’s summer series, the proper protection, presentation, and valuation of its IP will be vital to securing further financing, attracting new investment, defending against infringements, and entering licensing/franchising negotiations with the strongest hand possible.