Sports
NBA Rumors: 'People Are Lining Up' to Bid on Expansion Teams; LeBron's FSG Interested – Bleacher Report
One of the hottest topics in the NBA over the last year has been the possibility of expansion to cities like Las Vegas and Seattle.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has acknowledged that expansion is possible in the future, and it appears there’s plenty of interest among potential bidders to purchase a new team. One sports investment banker told The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov that he has spoken with people “who are assembling to buy an expansion franchise.”
“Oh, yeah, people are lining up,” the investment banker said. “They’re getting organized. How serious that is is a different story. You can only go so far … until the NBA starts a process.”
Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC and the Pittsburgh Penguins, “has expressed an interest in owning an NBA team,” according to Vorkunov, but “there is currently no momentum toward that.”
FSG’s interest in purchasing an NBA expansion franchise is particularly notable because Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James owns a minority stake in the company. James has been vocal about his desire to own an NBA team in the past.
“I want to own a team. … I want to buy a team, for sure,” James said in a 2022 episode of HBO’s The Shop (h/t Vorkunov). “I want a team in Vegas.”
James also told reporters in October that he believes the NBA expanding to Las Vegas should be a no-brainer for the league.
“Obviously you have the Raiders here, you have the (Golden Knights) here, you have the Aces here. You got F1 coming very soon. All-Star Weekend has been here a few times. You’ve got the NBA Summer League. … I think adding an NBA franchise here would just add to the momentum that’s going on in this town,” James said.
While active NBA players were initially prohibited from owning any stake in a franchise via the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the league’s new CBA, which was signed in July, allows players to invest in NBA and WNBA franchises, so James would be allowed to have a stake in an expansion team if he was still playing.
While expansion doesn’t appear to be in the NBA’s immediate future, several investment bankers believe an expansion transaction could occur in late 2024 or 2025, according to Vorkunov.
Las Vegas and Seattle appear to be the top candidates for expansion, but Silver said roughly one year ago that expansion to Mexico City was also a possibility.
“It’s definitely possible,” Silver said in December 2022. “… I don’t have a specific timeline right now in terms of expansion, but there’s no doubt we will be looking seriously at Mexico City over time.”
Montreal and Vancouver have also been mentioned as candidates for future expansion.
Bidding for an expansion franchise could reach record numbers as “one head of a sports private equity firm believes the bidding will begin at $4 billion, while others say it could be as much as $5 billion in the end, if not more,” Vorkunov wrote.
With the league continuing to thrive, it’s only a matter of time before we see a new franchise pop up. And considering the NBA is hosting the championship game of the inaugural in-season tournament in Las Vegas, the Sin City could very well be the No. 1 candidate to land a team.