Editor’s note: This is a regular Sunday feature to wrap up news and developments in the NBA’s possible expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle by the 2028-29 season.
The week ahead could yield some clues as to whetherthe NBA plans to move ahead with expansion.
The NBA’s board of governors are scheduled to meet Monday and Tuesday in New York and among the expected topics to be discussed is the potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle.
This will be the second owners meetings the NBA has held since announcing in March that they were officially exploring expansion to the two markets. NBA Commissioner Adam Stern has said multiple times that expansion is not a given and the league could choose to expand to both Las Vegas and Seattle, just one market, or not at all.
If the league chooses to expand, the team(s) are expected to being playing in the 2028-29 NBA season. Silver has noted that the NBA wants to have an answer to expansion by the end of this year.
The league hired investment bank PJT Partners evaluate the ownership bids, the Las Vegas and Seattle markets and arena plans tied to expansion. The firm has been vetting potential groups, with multiple deadlines set for the submission of plans, including financials, ahead of next week’s meetings.
The expected expansion fee is expected to be between $7 billion and $10 billion, with the expectation that a Las Vegas expansion team would fetch a higher price than one in Seattle. The billions in fees collected would be shared by the other team owners, with each receiving hundreds of millions of dollars.
Las Vegas has had several bid groups express interest in pursuing a team. At least four groups remain involved ahead of the board of governors meetings.
A group led by Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, who would want the team to play at T-Mobile Area, has talked about up to $400 million in renovations to the 10-year-old facility should the group win the bid.
Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband, Bill, are also in the mix. Their plan for an NBA expansion team has not been publicly stated.
The other known group is one headed by former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo and includes former NBA player and coach Vinny Del Negro, chairman and managing partner of Prime Capital Financial Scott Colangelo (no relation to Jerry Colangelo), media executive David Levy, American Century Investments CEO Johnathan Thomas and former NBA lottery pick and current NBA analyst Jay Williams.
Jerry Colangelo’s group is dubbed the Las Vegas Jacks, and they are working with renowned architect Davis Manica of Manica Architecture in Kansas City on their planned arena. The Jacks would plan on playing temporarily at T-Mobile Arena while their arena would be built. Foley said he would be open to a team playing at T-Mobile on a temporary basis should his group not prove successful in its bid.
There is one other bid group that is in the running in Las Vegas which has not been publicly identified.
There have been about three times as many NBA-ready arena projects floated as there are bid groups. All the arena projects that have been floated are dependent on the potential winning bid group partnering with them.
With about 15 weeks left in 2026 following the end of the NBA meetings this week, the process will need to progress quickly to remain on the league’s timeline of expansion in 2028-29.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
