Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The NBA will choose owners for a new Las Vegas team “in the very near future,” with a whopping $12-13 billion price tag for the franchise rights plus the cost of a new arena, ESPN reported Tuesday. The basketball league is currently eyeing two new teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, bringing the total number of NBA clubs to 32, potentially as soon as 2028.
According to ESPN, a shortlist of three bidders remains for the Las Vegas team, including one bid spearheaded by Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie. Another is led by Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos, and a third by Vegas Golden Knights ice hockey team owner Bill Foley. The NBA Board of Governors voted to explore the Las Vegas and Seattle markets in March, with formal approval for the expansions expected by December.
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A purpose-built new basketball arena at the southern end of the Strip has been widely mooted for the Las Vegas bid, though Knights owner Foley has also proposed adapting his NHL team’s T-Mobile Arena. Las Vegas already hosts the off-season NBA Summer League, and the T-Mobile Arena hosted the semi-finals and finals of the first three editions of the mid-season NBA Cup. But the city — which boasts the NFL Raiders franchise and will soon welcome an MLB side — has never had its own NBA team.
The Seattle team would be expected to play at the Climate Pledge Arena, home to the Kraken ice hockey team and on the site of the home of the former Seattle SuperSonics NBA team, which relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. A decision on Seattle team owners would take place at a later date.
© 2024 AFP
