Project B, the touring international basketball league scheduled to launch in January 2027, has hired Host Broadcast Services to be its production partner as part of an ambitious plan to stream all games globally on YouTube and spawn market-specific coverage.
HBS, also host broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup, will essentially become the media backbone for the startup league. The Switzerland-based company is set to provide multi-camera operations, live player mics, technical services, arena infrastructure, delivery of worldwide feeds, replay, graphics, immersive camera systems and general expertise to all of Project B’s eventual streaming, social and digital media partners.
When the league begins next year with an expected seven mini-tournaments -- two already announced in Valencia, Spain and Tokyo -- the plan is to also have HBS support local rightsholders in each territory by producing game broadcasts, commentary and studio shows in multiple languages, adjacent to the YouTube feed and distribution. The multiyear agreement was handled in-house.
“It allows us to combine this world-class live event coverage with localized programming,” said Grady Burnett, Project B co-founder and chief operating officer. “That’s something that HBS has done at scale for everything from the World Cup to Premier League games to you name the global sporting event: rugby, etc.”
The broadcast opportunities should be substantial. Project B will be a concurrent men’s and women’s league with F1-style tour stops -- 10 days at a time -- meaning players will set up shop in a local market and be available for behind-the-scene vignettes and shows. HBS will handle the production and technical support surrounding much of the content.
“Then there’s all types of adjacent programming that we can do with long-form, short-form, things like that,” Burnett said. “Some of which we’ll do with HBS, some of which we may do in-house or with other partners. But in terms of the [who their announcers are], that is a next step. But right now we really want to lay out, ‘Here’s the production and technical partnership, and this is best in class.’”
Besides the Valencia event (March 12-22, 2027) and the Tokyo stop (March 26-April 4, 2027), Project B is soon expected to announce two more tournaments in Europe, two more in Asia and one in either South or North America.
Project B, which offers players league-equity similar to Unrivaled, has already signed WNBA players such as WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Sophie Cunningham, Kamilla Cardoso, Leonie Fiebich, Li Meng, Janelle Salaün, Kelsey Mitchell and Mai Yamamoto.
Project B’s men rosters, which will eventually compete with NBA Europe and/or EuroLeague in the fall of 2027, have yet to be released.
