[Vorkunov] SlamBall is back. 20-year old full-contact basketball game played on trampoline-covered court returns with a 4-point line; 8-team league premiere on ESPN today at 7p ET.
[Vorkunov] SlamBall is back. 20-year old full-contact basketball game played on trampoline-covered court returns with a 4-point line; 8-team league premiere on ESPN today at 7p ET.
SlamBall is back. How can it grow from previous years, and what should fans expect?
Jul 21, 2023 LAS VEGAS — Cam Hollins always knew this day would come. He loved SlamBall growing up in the 2000s and 2010s, scouring YouTube for highlights of athletes soaring through the sky in a way he had never seen before.
SlamBall — the high-energy, heavily intense game, as its website states, “where basketball and football cultures collide,” — had vanished by the time he was an adult, so he joined the Indiana Pacers dunk squad, the Power Pack, to fly off a trampoline during quarter breaks. But he knew the game he loved was still alive somewhere, as old clips suddenly were going viral once again, and the movement to bring back SlamBall was gaining steam.
Once he received news that the sport officially was returning, he knew he was going to end up on its trampoline-covered court. A month later, he was flying around a warehouse off the Las Vegas Strip, wrapping up training camp ahead of his SlamBall debut.
“It was a dream,” Hollins said. “I watched this as a kid, and I told myself when I grow up, I’m gonna do this. And I’m here now, so the manifestation thing is really cool.”
SlamBall 15 years ago seemed to be universally loved, the perfect blend of above-the-rim basketball with the limitless physicality of football. So, where did it go?
“People think SlamBall died, but for me, it never really died when we were done,” SlamBall co-founder Mason Gordon said. “People ask all the time why do you keep at this? Why don’t you just give up on this one? It’s because I’m ludicrously stubborn. I mean, stupid stubborn.
Gordon also mentioned the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a motivating factor. One of the iconic cartoons of the 1990s first came out as a hyper-violent black-and-white comic book for adults. It had a cult following, but it was too niche to be a commercial success. When it was repurposed as a children’s show, it became a global sensation.
Gordon always believed SlamBall could take off. It just needed to hit at the right time in the right format.
It debuted in 2002 and grew a cult following with its mesmerizing mix of football and basketball played by helmet-wearing players hopping around on courts with trampolines. It was novel, yet violent. After meager ratings in season one, it clocked 2.3 million viewers on its second season’s opening night.
Even as the game fell off in the U.S. in the late 2000s, it found a new life in China in family trampoline centers. Gordon and co-founder Mike Tollin worked with promoters in China to build the sport with world championships in 2012 and 2016, even building training centers on college campuses where students became obsessed with the game.
SlamBall is played over four five-minute periods of full-contact basketball where the idea is to score by any means necessary, launching off four Olympic-sized trampolines that surround each hoop. There are handlers to move the ball (think point guard in basketball), gunners to attack the rim (think slasher or wing), and stoppers to shut down acrobatic dunks (think defensive specialists).
SlamBall’s China expansion eventually ran into the pandemic, and its momentum faltered, but the sport’s popularity on Instagram and TikTok rose simultaneously. Gordon and Tollin knew their moment to strike in the U.S. was near, and after years of their pitch hitting a wall, they suddenly had investors lining up to fund the revival and struck a deal with ESPN to broadcast the eight-team league, as it premiers Friday.
“The internet isn’t interested in anything that’s more than a couple weeks old,” Gordon said. “So, the idea that 20-year-old highlights can have shelf life shows that somewhere along the way, we captured the heart of the internet, and I hope that never changes.”
Gordon brought back his people from the first go-around, hiring the players from the original warehouse where it all started as the coaches and executives running the league today. He wanted to capture the magic of the sport that was still translating while also modernizing it to take advantage of a new era of sports and entertainment.
“The idea that we have that kind of continuity and that I don’t have like, I don’t know, Chris Bosh pretending to coach a SlamBall team here … like, you can’t market that to people authentically,” Gordon said. “People see right through that. But the idea that these are the best SlamBall players and coaches who have ever lived, and they’re here teaching the next generation how to stand up SlamBall to be a global powerhouse sport, that’s the big swing.”
Gordon brought in some of the original players to take on key roles, with Rob Wilson serving as director of player personnel and Stanley Fletcher coaching the Slashers, among others. Gordon also called up Ken Carter, the first SlamBall championship coach who later became known worldwide when Samuel L. Jackson portrayed him in the 2005 film “Coach Carter.”
“I said let me think about it, because I have a school to run and I do a lot of public speaking,” Carter said. “I’m, like, in the top 50 public speakers in the world. Not (a) motivational speaker, I’m an inspirational speaker. When you motivate people, you push from the back. But when you inspire people, you lead from the front.”
whtge8
I’d love to see Wemby try this.
JAhoops
How do you sign up or get selected
Nice_Ass_Lawn
Injury waiting to happen no?
ajteitel
On ESPN 8, The Ocho
Ace12773
even the spectators are gonna get CTE from watching this
southpawsouthpaw
Relegate the Pistons to this
SubZero_dot785
Fun to watch, 🙏🏽 all the players stay healthy and have no serious injuries
EGarrett
The problem with Slamball is that there are gnarly injuries possible. Like, bad enough that you don’t watch Slamball again.
Bunny_Whaler
The novelty of slamballl wore off after about 5 min. during it’s initial run.
Pass.
Ladnil
How many broken limbs do they average in a season?
TheRealJohnMara
Wow Slamball, Oppenheimer, and Barbie all in one day? Historic day!
WeHaveArrived
Budget cuts hitting hard at espn
Raging_Professor
Damn. I missed watching this as a kid. Those poster dunks and the awesome blocks. Glad they’re back
EatFoodShitPant
injuries fans’ christmas
TigerKlaw
Finally.
entropic
[Me waiting to see all the nephews who whine about every WNBA post existing in /r/NBA come to this thread to complain about a SlamBall post being made in /r/NBA.](https://i.imgur.com/k3R3Hph.png)
Right-Beautiful7631
God is good
HerboftheSerb
Douglas J. Needles will be so happy his favorite sport is back. I just wish he’d stop bullying Marty McFly Sr. and maybe take him to a game.
VicePope
Sean “Inches” Jackson better be back
dirkslance
I’m good thanks
Madterps2021
Is anyone impressed by the trampoline dunks?
_LYSEN
Good luck with all of the injuries
spacesuitz
Rip ACLs
actual_yellow_bag
and everyone’s knees imploded into dust
GoblinKing22
Any rule changes to mitigate all the terrible lower body injuries?
joshwaynebobbit
I never expected The Ocho to get here this soon
mecon320
The Antoine Walker comeback starts now.
direwolfwhisperer
I’m surprised anybody is even signing up for this. Basketball is already risky for ankles, now you’re putting trampolines in the mix?
Tsb313
Oh hell yeah.
I’ve always wanted to play this lol
MrBuckBuck
When half time show becomes a sport.
fimbres16
I got two friends who are in the league and I know they are excited to be playing
Buckus93
I think I broke my femur just reading about this.
TurbulentJudge1000
I personally hope they eliminate the blocker aspect because the original slam ball had some serious injuries. They should just have a bonus goal that’s 10 feet higher or etc. or give bonuses if you do a cool flip alley oop or some other cool move when dunking.
Once 2-3 players have a broken ankle or torn acl in the first game, slam ball will just go away again.
lxkandel06
“Imagine all the physicality and collisions of football, but instead those collisions take place up to 10 feet in the air above hardwood floors and trampolines loaded with metal springs. What could go wrong?”
Thomas_teh_tank
Nathan Scott gonna come out of retirement
GriffHay
OG slamball scarred me for life when a dude snap his fucking ankle in half getting it stuck between two of the mats. I’ll take a pass.
funkymonksfunky
Nope. It was terrible back then and led to lots of stupid injuries. I remember thinking it seemed fun to try but it is very boring to watch
k_dubious
I sprained my ankle just thinking about this.
Shrekt115
We are so back
Icy_Elephant_6370
If you like to see knee caps bent in the wrong direction, snapped necks and dislocated arms, this is your sport!
TheMainShy
Stan “Shakes” Fletcher was my favorite player when this was around.
Edit*- also for the love of everything, make sure the trampoline edges are safe and covered. I remember TNN/Spike TV or whatever back then having that SlamBall behind the scenes show. They showcased players doing the tryouts and one of the players snapped their ankle/foot. So hopefully all of that has been ironed out.
ArcticBP
I LOVED slamball when i was growing up.
I can still remember the intro song like I just watched it a few weeks ago.
I hope its still good (and also that its watchable in Canada)
cousin_brian
Dwight Howard would be perfect for this
ProfessorDahmer
My uncle was SO convinced Slamball would be the next big thing. He was scouring the early 2000s internet looking for Slamball courts, considered investing in one, etc. lmao
46 Comments
SlamBall is back. How can it grow from previous years, and what should fans expect?
Jul 21, 2023
LAS VEGAS — Cam Hollins always knew this day would come. He loved SlamBall growing up in the 2000s and 2010s, scouring YouTube for highlights of athletes soaring through the sky in a way he had never seen before.
SlamBall — the high-energy, heavily intense game, as its website states, “where basketball and football cultures collide,” — had vanished by the time he was an adult, so he joined the Indiana Pacers dunk squad, the Power Pack, to fly off a trampoline during quarter breaks. But he knew the game he loved was still alive somewhere, as old clips suddenly were going viral once again, and the movement to bring back SlamBall was gaining steam.
Once he received news that the sport officially was returning, he knew he was going to end up on its trampoline-covered court. A month later, he was flying around a warehouse off the Las Vegas Strip, wrapping up training camp ahead of his SlamBall debut.
“It was a dream,” Hollins said. “I watched this as a kid, and I told myself when I grow up, I’m gonna do this. And I’m here now, so the manifestation thing is really cool.”
SlamBall 15 years ago seemed to be universally loved, the perfect blend of above-the-rim basketball with the limitless physicality of football. So, where did it go?
“People think SlamBall died, but for me, it never really died when we were done,” SlamBall co-founder Mason Gordon said. “People ask all the time why do you keep at this? Why don’t you just give up on this one? It’s because I’m ludicrously stubborn. I mean, stupid stubborn.
Gordon also mentioned the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a motivating factor. One of the iconic cartoons of the 1990s first came out as a hyper-violent black-and-white comic book for adults. It had a cult following, but it was too niche to be a commercial success. When it was repurposed as a children’s show, it became a global sensation.
Gordon always believed SlamBall could take off. It just needed to hit at the right time in the right format.
It debuted in 2002 and grew a cult following with its mesmerizing mix of football and basketball played by helmet-wearing players hopping around on courts with trampolines. It was novel, yet violent. After meager ratings in season one, it clocked 2.3 million viewers on its second season’s opening night.
Even as the game fell off in the U.S. in the late 2000s, it found a new life in China in family trampoline centers. Gordon and co-founder Mike Tollin worked with promoters in China to build the sport with world championships in 2012 and 2016, even building training centers on college campuses where students became obsessed with the game.
SlamBall is played over four five-minute periods of full-contact basketball where the idea is to score by any means necessary, launching off four Olympic-sized trampolines that surround each hoop. There are handlers to move the ball (think point guard in basketball), gunners to attack the rim (think slasher or wing), and stoppers to shut down acrobatic dunks (think defensive specialists).
SlamBall’s China expansion eventually ran into the pandemic, and its momentum faltered, but the sport’s popularity on Instagram and TikTok rose simultaneously. Gordon and Tollin knew their moment to strike in the U.S. was near, and after years of their pitch hitting a wall, they suddenly had investors lining up to fund the revival and struck a deal with ESPN to broadcast the eight-team league, as it premiers Friday.
“The internet isn’t interested in anything that’s more than a couple weeks old,” Gordon said. “So, the idea that 20-year-old highlights can have shelf life shows that somewhere along the way, we captured the heart of the internet, and I hope that never changes.”
Gordon brought back his people from the first go-around, hiring the players from the original warehouse where it all started as the coaches and executives running the league today. He wanted to capture the magic of the sport that was still translating while also modernizing it to take advantage of a new era of sports and entertainment.
“The idea that we have that kind of continuity and that I don’t have like, I don’t know, Chris Bosh pretending to coach a SlamBall team here … like, you can’t market that to people authentically,” Gordon said. “People see right through that. But the idea that these are the best SlamBall players and coaches who have ever lived, and they’re here teaching the next generation how to stand up SlamBall to be a global powerhouse sport, that’s the big swing.”
Gordon brought in some of the original players to take on key roles, with Rob Wilson serving as director of player personnel and Stanley Fletcher coaching the Slashers, among others. Gordon also called up Ken Carter, the first SlamBall championship coach who later became known worldwide when Samuel L. Jackson portrayed him in the 2005 film “Coach Carter.”
“I said let me think about it, because I have a school to run and I do a lot of public speaking,” Carter said. “I’m, like, in the top 50 public speakers in the world. Not (a) motivational speaker, I’m an inspirational speaker. When you motivate people, you push from the back. But when you inspire people, you lead from the front.”
I’d love to see Wemby try this.
How do you sign up or get selected
Injury waiting to happen no?
On ESPN 8, The Ocho
even the spectators are gonna get CTE from watching this
Relegate the Pistons to this
Fun to watch, 🙏🏽 all the players stay healthy and have no serious injuries
The problem with Slamball is that there are gnarly injuries possible. Like, bad enough that you don’t watch Slamball again.
The novelty of slamballl wore off after about 5 min. during it’s initial run.
Pass.
How many broken limbs do they average in a season?
Wow Slamball, Oppenheimer, and Barbie all in one day? Historic day!
Budget cuts hitting hard at espn
Damn. I missed watching this as a kid. Those poster dunks and the awesome blocks. Glad they’re back
injuries fans’ christmas
Finally.
[Me waiting to see all the nephews who whine about every WNBA post existing in /r/NBA come to this thread to complain about a SlamBall post being made in /r/NBA.](https://i.imgur.com/k3R3Hph.png)
God is good
Douglas J. Needles will be so happy his favorite sport is back. I just wish he’d stop bullying Marty McFly Sr. and maybe take him to a game.
Sean “Inches” Jackson better be back
I’m good thanks
Is anyone impressed by the trampoline dunks?
Good luck with all of the injuries
Rip ACLs
and everyone’s knees imploded into dust
Any rule changes to mitigate all the terrible lower body injuries?
I never expected The Ocho to get here this soon
The Antoine Walker comeback starts now.
I’m surprised anybody is even signing up for this. Basketball is already risky for ankles, now you’re putting trampolines in the mix?
Oh hell yeah.
I’ve always wanted to play this lol
When half time show becomes a sport.
I got two friends who are in the league and I know they are excited to be playing
I think I broke my femur just reading about this.
I personally hope they eliminate the blocker aspect because the original slam ball had some serious injuries. They should just have a bonus goal that’s 10 feet higher or etc. or give bonuses if you do a cool flip alley oop or some other cool move when dunking.
Once 2-3 players have a broken ankle or torn acl in the first game, slam ball will just go away again.
“Imagine all the physicality and collisions of football, but instead those collisions take place up to 10 feet in the air above hardwood floors and trampolines loaded with metal springs. What could go wrong?”
Nathan Scott gonna come out of retirement
OG slamball scarred me for life when a dude snap his fucking ankle in half getting it stuck between two of the mats. I’ll take a pass.
Nope. It was terrible back then and led to lots of stupid injuries. I remember thinking it seemed fun to try but it is very boring to watch
I sprained my ankle just thinking about this.
We are so back
If you like to see knee caps bent in the wrong direction, snapped necks and dislocated arms, this is your sport!
Stan “Shakes” Fletcher was my favorite player when this was around.
Edit*- also for the love of everything, make sure the trampoline edges are safe and covered. I remember TNN/Spike TV or whatever back then having that SlamBall behind the scenes show. They showcased players doing the tryouts and one of the players snapped their ankle/foot. So hopefully all of that has been ironed out.
I LOVED slamball when i was growing up.
I can still remember the intro song like I just watched it a few weeks ago.
I hope its still good (and also that its watchable in Canada)
Dwight Howard would be perfect for this
My uncle was SO convinced Slamball would be the next big thing. He was scouring the early 2000s internet looking for Slamball courts, considered investing in one, etc. lmao
ESPN is a such a joke lol