Commissioner says NBA isn’t ready to focus on Las Vegas expansion
The NBA still isn’t ready to address expansion, commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday.
Silver said during a news conference that the league is mulling over the recent sale of the Boston Celtics and waiting to see how some regional sports networks deals play out before focusing on expansion.
Las Vegas is among the cities the league is eyeing for potential expansion, Silver has said.
The Celtics’ $6.1 billion sale is not finalized, but will likely impact the expansion fee for future franchises.
“No new developments, but I would only say in terms of looking at this year, we’re still in the process of digesting the Celtic transaction,” Silver said. “No question a major transaction like that becomes relevant to expansion. That deal has just been presented to us, so we’re still analyzing it.”
Waiting game
Silver previously said the league was waiting for its new broadcast rights deal and new collective bargaining agreement to be in place before turning its attention to expansion. Both of those matters have been finalized.
NBA executives have continued to work on the model of what expansion could look like over the last year, Silver said.
“That includes both dilution from an economic standpoint; we now have a better understanding of that now that we have our national (TV) deals in place and also from a players’ standpoint, too,” Silver said.
Local broadcasts deals are now at the forefront of league discussions. Two-thirds of NBA teams are dealing with regional sports networks that have declared bankruptcy or shut down, Silver noted.
“While we understand the national media landscape now, to the extent that we’re looking at expansion domestically, I think we’d really like to understand what that opportunity for local media is, because that’s a pretty critical component of our teams’ economics,” Silver said.
Once the Celtics’ deal is evaluated and teams figure out their regional sports network situations, the NBA will further expansion talks, Silver said.
“My sense is once we’ve been through that process that we’ll turn to it in a more serious way,” Silver said. “The last component, which also is going to be a bit of pause, is that we’d like to have a better sense of where we’re going with local media. It’s well known that we’ve seen some significant declines there.”
Vegas potential
Where an NBA team would play if Las Vegas gets a franchise is still uncertain. Oak View Group’s plans to build a 20,000-seat, NBA-ready arena on land located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road were called off last year. The group said it still has plans to construct an arena in Las Vegas, but hasn’t confirmed its location. A person with knowledge of Oak View’s dealings said the group is eyeing land next to the Rio.
Former Raiders president Marc Badain, who was leading Oak View’s Las Vegas work, left the company this year to become president of MLB’s Athletics. Oak View hasn’t announced his replacement.
There is also the planned LVXP multibillion-dollar NBA-ready arena and resort project being eyed for the North Strip. The Las Vegas-based real estate firm envisions an 18,000-seat arena that would be accompanied by an integrated resort on 17 acres on Las Vegas Boulevard near Sahara, which is the former site of Wet ’n Wild water park.
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has also expressed interest in owning an NBA team and told Vegas PBS that he would carry out a $300 million renovation of T-Mobile Arena if he was successful in bidding for a franchise.
NBA superstar LeBron James, former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and former world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather have also expressed their desires to own an NBA team in Las Vegas.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
