Las Vegas is shaping up to have one of the city’s biggest years on record in 2028, all revolving around sports.
In two years Major League Baseball’s Athletics are scheduled to open their $2 billion ballpark on the Strip in the spring, the NCAA men’s Final Four is scheduled to be held at Allegiant Stadium in early April and the NBA could be playing its first games in the fall.
The NBA Board of Governors next week in New York are expected to vote to explore Las Vegas and Seattle as expansion markets, a person with knowledge of the meetings told the Review-Journal Monday. The league is eyeing the new teams to open play in the 2028-29 season, should league expansion be approved.
The team could be awarded as soon as the July NBA Board of Governors meetings held in Las Vegas during the NBA Summer League.
The two cities have long been rumored to land an expansion franchise.
Seattle was once home to the SuperSonics, before the franchise relocated in 2008 and became the Oklahoma City Thunder. Climate Pledge Arena, formerly known as KeyArena when the Sonics played there (1967-2008), underwent a $1.15 billion renovation, completed in 2021, and is now the home to the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. The major renovation was done partly to draw an NBA team back to the city.
Basketball town
Where a Las Vegas NBA expansion team would play is still up in the air, with T-Mobile Arena a possibility, if hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations are made there.
Oak View Group is also still considering construction of an NBA-ready arena as is Las Vegas real estate group LVXP, which has visions for an arena/resort complex on the north Strip.
Las Vegas has long been considered a basketball city, dating back to the 1980s, when the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels were among the college basketball elite under coach Jerry Tarkanian.
Las Vegas has hosted the NBA Summer League in July since 2004. It has grown from a handful of teams to multi-day event that includes all 30 teams. The latest draft picks and players now compete each year at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and The Pavilion.
NBA ownership groups
Following the expected vote next week, the NBA will begin a dialogue with potential ownership groups from each market to determine who will land the two teams. The potential expansion fees the two ownership groups will pay is rumored to be between $7 and $10 billion.
There are three groups looking to land a Las Vegas NBA team:
- The MAGI, led by NBA hall of famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
- Fenway Sports Group, which would include NBA superstar LeBron James.
- And a third group which includes Golden Knights owner Bill Foley.
Johnson and the MAGI, met with Gov. Joe Lombardo last month, with Lombardo also holding a Zoom call with NBA commissioner Adam Silver last week.
Big five
Should Las Vegas receive final approval, the city will add NBA to the city’s professional sports offerings, joining the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights who began play in 2017, the National Football League’s Raiders who kicked off their Southern Nevada tenure in 2020 and the A’s who are planned to begin their time as Las Vegas’ MLB team, also in 2028. The city also is the home to the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, who have won three league titles in four years since arriving in 2018.
The first NBA games for a Las Vegas franchise are expected to occur in October, just before the sixth Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix occurs on the Strip and surrounding streets in November 2028.
Sports visitor spending
Sports and events held at the various arenas and stadiums in Southern Nevada have become big tourism draws and adding the NBA and a potential new arena could boost that impact.
Last year 3 percent of Las Vegas visitors cited a sporting event as their primary reason to visit Southern Nevada. Although on average Las Vegas visitor spending is down, those visiting Sin City for a sporting event tend to spend more, according the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The average tourists visiting Las Vegas for a sporting event spends $452 on the event, which only trails food and beverage spending as far at the top areas guests are spending their money in Southern Nevada, according to LVCVA data.
The NFL has 10 games per season that can see 50 percent or more of the attendees to the 65,000-fan capacity Allegiant Stadium coming from out of state. The NHL accounts for 41 home games each season, not including playoffs. The NBA and MLB would add 122 regular-season event days (81 with baseball and 41 via basketball).
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
