TBT co-founder Jonathan Mugar is bringing his $1 million hoop dream back to Philly this week

Ahead of the two-day million-dollar winner-takes-all basketball tournament finale at Drexel, Mugar sat down with The Inquirer to reflect on 10 years of a vision brought to life here in Philly.

Jonathan Mugar is a co-founder of TBT, the $1 million win-or-go-home summer basketball tournament coming to Philly on Wednesday and Thursday.Read moreThe Basketball Tournament

by Kerith Gabriel

Published Jul. 31, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

This week is going to be especially surreal for Jonathan Mugar.

It was 10 years ago that Mugar, alongside his friend Dan Friel, launched The Basketball Tournament, a $1 million winner-takes-all basketball event inside the gymnasium of what then was known as Philadelphia University (now Jefferson University).

The inaugural tournament, a concept four years in the making, finally tipped off in front of 17 people, according to TBT’s website — but to ask Mugar, the 47-year-old Boston native who resides in Los Angeles, it was more like 13 people.

Now, a decade later, and with over $10 million in prize money given to former college standouts from all over the country who field a team representing their school or philanthropic endeavor, TBT returns to Philly on Wednesday and Thursday for its semifinal and championship rounds, the culmination of a month-long effort from 64 teams, including two squads representing Philly’s Big 5 and Temple alumni.

The two-day TBT championship at Drexel’s Daskalaskis Athletic Complex will come complete with a slam dunk contest on Wednesday beginning at 6 p.m. before semifinal matchups at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Thursday’s championship game will tipoff at 7 p.m. All three games will air on ESPN.

Ahead of all of that, Mugar sat down with The Inquirer to talk about the success of TBT; the spawning of the $1 million soccer free-for-all aptly named, The Soccer Tournament; the importance of bringing TBT back to Philly 10 years later; and just how exhausting keeping track of all of this truly is.

Looking at the concept of TBT, are you surprised at just how big it’s gotten?

Jonathan Mugar: We’re really happy with where this has come since we started in 2014. I don’t think we really projected 10 years later where we would want it to be, but just experiencing it this year, over these past few weeks, it’s been really amazing for our team. Just been tremendous attendance growth over the past few years. And this year is shaping up to be a record attendance year, by a lot.

What makes TBT so intriguing? Beyond the chance for $1 million, obviously.

JM: We just put on a very exciting version of basketball, one that gets introduced to more and more fan bases every year over the past 10 years. More and more people are finding out about it, and we feel unbelievably good about the product that’s on the court. It’s great to see new fans see it up close and personal for the first time and find it really resonating with them.

OK, so how exhausting is it to get TBT going and then to see it through over the course of the month?

JM: It’s really exhausting, and this year, for the first time, we added another sport, launching The Soccer Tournament in early June. And that, in addition to basketball, it’s been a lot for our team. We’re only 13 full-time [staffers] year-round, and we all do a little bit of everything. So we don’t actually have a marketing department, for example. We all kind of chip in. But I also believe that’s why we’ve been able to succeed so long is because we’re all very nimble and proficient in a lot of areas. But at this point, we’re all dragging.

TBT gives former college players a chance to have the spotlight one more time. What does that aspect of this tournament do for you?

JM: This is literally their Field of Dreams. We were in Louisville for the first time, and we brought together Russ Smith, Peyton Siva, and others. These are guys that haven’t been on the court since they won a national championship. To see them back on the court, not only back out there playing, but playing at an even higher level than when they graduated, is shocking, exhilarating, and, I think, even jarring for fans.

Yeah, the only analogy I can think of is just like in the movie Field of Dreams, when you see these players come back out through the cornfields and start playing and they’re in their prime all over again.

When you think about it, $1 million is a big purse for a summer basketball tournament. How do you do it every year?

JM: Look, we’ve paid out over $10 million at this point. Doing that over 10 years has added quite a bit of credibility to the product. It’s a big driver of interest in why we get so many high-quality players and teams. But just as important is this idea that [these players] can play in front of American fan bases and their beloved former fan bases once again. For the first time, they choose the team they want to go to war with. For competitive players, there’s nothing like that.

What’s it going to mean to be back here in Philly with this tournament, this concept turned competition, in the city where it all tipped off?

JM: I’ll be back with our co-founder Dan Friel. We’ve been friends since we were 13 years old, and we both started this together at Philly U, 10 years ago. So to come back 10 years later with a product that has grown substantially since we started it, just down the road, is going to be very meaningful. And I think for any fans that were in attendance that first year, it will be a great moment for them as well to see just how far the concept has grown and how high the level of play has gotten.