When NBA owners met in New York this week, they discussed expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle, but no final decision has been made. Yet.
While the latest round of bids for Las Vegas are “coming in shortly,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said — those are due Thursday, according to reports — those will not be the final bids for the “several active groups” in the mix to bring a team to Sin City.
Those bids could be in the $10 billion range, ESPN’s Shams Charania said on NBA Today.
“The NBA and Silver are in deeper and deeper stages of the expansion conversation, and I’m told specifically for Las Vegas the next round of bids for an expansion team in Las Vegas are due on Thursday, and then final bids expected to be some point shortly thereafter. My understanding is proposals for that Vegas team is reaching and potentially exceeding $10 billion, and so far, the Vegas process has moved with more pace than Seattle, but those Seattle conversations are continuing as well.”
Dallas Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont — the CEO and chairman of Las Vegas Sands — led part of the discussion around the Las Vegas team, specifically focusing on arena location, Silver said.
“I’ll say that there was a discussion led by Patrick Dumont, of course, who is a Las Vegas resident, enormous operating experience there in Las Vegas, just sort of as an independent objective party,” Silver said. “[Dumont] led a discussion around the various sites, potential sites, in Las Vegas.”
While there is the T-Mobile Arena just off the Strip — the home to the WNBA’s Aces, the NHL’s Golden Knights, and it has been home to the final rounds of the NBA Cup the past couple of years — Silver said “it needs some significant improvements” before an NBA team could move in. Some ownership groups are proposing building new stadiums, Silver added.
While the Las Vegas process is moving faster and generated more discussion — and that team is expected to go for $2-3 billion more than the Seattle franchise — it is possible the Seattle team actually takes the court sooner because of the arena situation.
“In Seattle, we have had [NBA] operational groups out to Climate Pledge [Arena], Silver said. “You clearly have a state-of-the-art arena there. May require some modifications for NBA basketball. If we were opening in five weeks, we could be ready in Seattle.”
The owners took no votes on expansion at this meeting, but Silver reiterated that “it’s our goal to have decisions by the end of the year.”
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