Multiple bidders in for Seattle NBA franchise as $7bn-plus process evolves

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Seattle is arguably playing second fiddle to Las Vegas in the media’s coverage of the NBA’s expansion efforts.

The prospect of a first Vegas-based NBA franchise has demanded endless column inches, airtime and smartphone pixels since it was first mooted many moons ago.

Seattle, as the seat of the SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008 until they relocated to Oklahoma and were rebirthed as the Thunder, was – rightly or wrongly – not seen as quite as glamorous a possibility.

The Vegas franchise could fetch in the region of $10bn, for example. And four bidders in the Las Vegas Jacks group, a consortium led by ex-Disney CEO Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, and Las Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley have all publicly declared their interest.

However, Seattle has a lot going for it too: an underserved TV market, a massive fanbase in waiting, the US’s 15th-largest urban area, and billions of big-tech dollars sloshing around in the local economy.

And while there are fewer bidders to come out and publicly declare their interest in an expansion franchise in Seattle, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has revealed that there is no shortage of suitors.

Lots of interest in Seattle NBA expansion franchise, says Silver

So far, only Samantha Holloway – owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and their Climate Pledge Arena – has been identified as having hired investment banks to explore a bid for a Seattle NBA franchise.

However, industry publication Sports Business Journal says bidders are “coming out of the woodwork” for what is seen as a once-in-a-generation opportunity in the city.

Quoted by the same outlet, Silver has also reiterated that, while the Seattle auction process may not have generated the same noise as Vegas’s, interest in a team there is real and growing.

“Most of the groups that are interested have not been public. So I wouldn’t conclude that because there aren’t other public groups coming forward, that therefore there isn’t other interest in Seattle. There is.

“I think Seattle, we had an incredibly successful Sonics team there for years. It’s an amazing market. We do a lot of business with Amazon and Microsoft. It’s probably the A.I. capital of the world right now.”