Editor’s note: This is the first of a regular Sunday feature to wrapup news and developments in the NBA’s possible expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle by the 2028-29 season.
The Las Vegas NBA expansion bid process now features at least four groups still interested in landing a potential team in Southern Nevada after the Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner group bought the Los Angeles Lakers this week.
The remaining known groups include billionaire Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband Bill Laurie and one led by Golden Knights owner Bill Foley.
The Las Vegas Jacks feature former NBA owner Jerry Colangleo, and include former NBA player and coach Vinny Del Negro, chairman and managing partner of Prime Capital Financial Scott Colangelo, media executive David Levy, American Century investments CEO Jonathan Thomas and former NBA lottery pick and current NBA analyst Jay Williams.
The fourth group, the MAGI led by NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson, has been quiet in recent months, not returning messages left by the Review-Journal. A source also has not reached them in about two months. The could indicate that the group might be out of the running or that Johnson and other members of the group could have folded into another effort, a source said.
Each of the other groups, including the Iger/Kushner group, has had recent conversations locally as the expansion process plays out, a source said.
Raiders owner Mark Davis’ name hasn’t yet come up during expansion talks, a source said. Davis has been asked multiple times about his desire to be part of an NBA ownership group, but he has declined to answer the question each time.
UFC president and CEO Dana White this week said that he was contacted by an ownership group gauging his interest in joining their bid. White said he couldn’t yet answer yes or no to his desire to join a bid group.
With over 10 NBA-ready arena projects having been pitched over the years in Las Vegas, a source said that no bid group has yet been definitively tied to a proposed arena project. Caesars Entertainment and landlord VICI Properties are looking to develop an NBA-ready arena on land they own behind Caesars’ properties the Horseshoe, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood. That project has been referenced by more than one group, but it’s unclear if that is site or deal specific, the source said.
Having the notable names included in the groups showing interest in owning a Las Vegas team is universally beneficial to the city and its sports ventures, said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“The critical mass that we have generated around sports and the energy and elevated experience around teams and events being here is just being noticed by folks,” Hill said. “It helps increase the value of those teams here, and it then generates more interest from a broad variety of very notable people who want to be a part of that. So it’s just all kind of come together, and folks are recognizing that.”
Hill has had conversations with some of the interested NBA ownership groups, he said, but those interactions are different so far than ones he had with the Raiders and the Athletics when the teams were looking to relocate to Las Vegas since no public money is yet involved. Both the Raiders and the A’s received hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding as part of their Las Vegas moves.
“Folks want to understand Las Vegas,” Hill said. “They want to understand where the best locations would be for different considerations whether that’s traffic or pedestrian access or room access or anything along those lines.
“They want to understand if they’re looking at another venue what other events we (LVCVA) might be able to help bring to a venue like that. Those kinds of things we’ve been fairly involved in conversations with different groups, whether it’s team ownership or those floating opportunities for new venues, but it’s not, hey, let’s make a deal around public money.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
