Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that the NBA remains on track to decide if the league will add expansion franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle, and the interest he’s seen in Southern Nevada is an encouraging development.
The league has been exploring both Las Vegas and Seattle for potential expansion franchises since March, with multiple groups expressing interest in Southern Nevada, while Seattle has had just one ownership group making it publicly known it is interested.
Silver said not to read too much into how many groups have gone public with their aspirations.
“Most of the groups that are interested have not been public,” Silver said.
Four potential ownership groups are known to be interested in Las Vegas, which include notable basketball figures in Jerry Colangelo and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, former Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and Golden Knights owner Bill Foley.
“It gives me a lot of confidence to see one, firsthand, the amount of interest in the game in Las Vegas,” Silver said. “Multiple very serious groups are in the process of presenting plans to our bankers, and those plans not only include who the potential owners would be, but their vision for what Las Vegas basketball could look like, where they would play, how they would present the game. It’s music to my ears. … I really appreciate what we’re seeing so far, and so it’s very encouraging. No votes have been taken yet. We’ve got a ways to go still in terms of those discussions with interested parties, but I’m optimistic about the future here.”
Over the past two days in the board of governors meetings, there were expansion discussions both at the committee level and before the board from the NBA’s outside banker, about how the process is going and what he’s hearing from the groups, Silver said.
Potential expansion issues
Silver has noted potential issues in expanding include the loss of revenue per owner who will have to split league monies with two new teams as well as the potential for the impact of talent, with the need to fill the roster spots for a pair of new franchises.
NBA Players Association executive committee member and Houston Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet said there shouldn’t be worries about watering down the product, as the player pipeline from college is as strong as it has ever been.
“This is the best talent that we’ve (NBA) ever had,” VanVleet said last week during a news conference in Las Vegas. “I think that players are increasingly getting better; young guys are pretty much turning pro earlier, so they’re getting paid as college athletes. The pipeline is better than ever, so I don’t think there is going to be any concern of watering down the talent by adding two more teams.”
VanVleet said they’ll have to revisit the thought if expansion is moved forward by the league to see how the process plays out.
“In terms of the expansion draft and things like that,” VanVleet said, the game is in a beautiful place, the business is growing and it’s our job to negotiate our rights within the ever-changing business that we’re in.”
David Kelly, incoming NBPA executive director, said a potential issue the players association could have is how the expected expansion fees ownership groups from Las Vegas and Seattle would pay would be distributed. The expected expansion fee is reportedly between $7 billion and $10 billion per team, with between $14 billion and $20 billion being distributed to the 30 current NBA teams outside of the players collective bargaining agreement.
“It’s something that’s historically been the case; we don’t think it should be the case,” Kelly said. “We don’t think it’s fair. But, of course, fairness has nothing to do with the negotiations with the CBA as leverage. But it’s definitely something we want to address depending on when expansion teams come in.”
Local leaders ready to assist
Clark County Commission Chair Michael Naft said he believes the NBA would thrive in Las Vegas, and the commission is there to assist the league and potential ownership anyway they can to make it happen.
“I am looking forward to the NBA being located in unincorporated Clark County,” Naft told the Review-Journal last week. “We certainly have an interest in making sure that happens smoothly and successfully, and we’ll continue to work with all appropriate stakeholders to make that happen.”
If an ownership group outside of Foley’s bid is successful in their effort to get an NBA team and want to build a new arena in Southern Nevada, Naft is certain the area can support another major sports and events facility.
“I certainly think the county can support another sports venue,” Naft said. “We’ve seen the nuances from venue to venue, and the different events that can be attracted because of it. …I think there have been questions with every new venue that’s opened and can we meet the capacity? We saw with Allegiant Stadium, something that had never been done here in Nevada before, and now it’s the most successful and profitable enterprise in sports. And I have no doubt that we can continue to transform ourselves and reinvent ourselves in ways that will continue to spur activity in another venue.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
