New details revealed as $8bn Las Vegas NBA expansion franchise race heats up

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Las Vegas is getting an NBA franchise – it is a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’.

NBA franchise owners voted unanimously in March to explore the addition of a franchise in Sin City, as well as one in Seattle.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his team – who are in expansion mode with the NBA Europe project, too – are said to be looking for valuations in the $8-10bn range, with the Vegas enterprise likely to be the more expensive of the two.

The aim is to have a franchise up and running in time for the 2028-29 season, and five groups have expressed their interest publicly so far.

Throughout the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, there was much chatter about the new franchise.

Silver himself said that the Summer League has practically “operated as our 31st team for 22 years”, while the fact that new records for attendance, merchandise sales and social media metrics were set at the event is further vindication of the NBA’s choice to pitch up in Vegas.

And from the Summer League, new information about the prospective owners and structure of a new franchise has emerged.

Frontrunners for Vegas NBA franchise ownership named

So far, five groups have either gone on record as being interested in a Vegas franchise or have been reliably reported to be exploring a bid.

They are:

• Bill Foley, owner of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and minority investor in T-Mobile Arena
• Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, and Bob Iger, former CEO of Disney
• Las Vegas Jacks group, a consortium of investors by Basketball Hall of Famer and USA Basketball director Jerry Colangelo and
• Marc Lasry, former Milwaukee Bucks owner
• MAGI, the investment group led by NBA legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson

According to a report from respected industry publication Sports Business Journal, the two frontrunners are the Las Vegas Jacks and the Kushner-Iger group.

The same report also suggested that Foley could end up coming on board with one of those groups too, and that building an arena in Vegas is one of the league’s top priorities.