NBA owners expected to discuss expansion in Las Vegas
Published in Basketball
LAS VEGAS — NBA expansion is among the items expected to be discussed Tuesday when the league’s board of governors meets in Las Vegas during the Summer League.
After years of talks about the potential to expand from the NBA’s current 30 franchises, with Las Vegas and Seattle among the favorites to receive one, Tuesday’s meeting marked the first time league owners officially discuss the topic.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who will address the media Tuesday night following the meeting, has said expansion isn’t a given despite the chatter.
“I don’t think it’s automatic, because it depends on your perspective on the future of the league,” Silver said during a June 5 news conference. “As I’ve said before, expansion in a way is selling equity in the league, and if you believe in the league, you don’t necessarily want to add partners.”
Las Vegas groups
If the league approves the expansion process, multiple groups are ready to bid to bring a team to Las Vegas, according to Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO.
“We’ve got at least three groups here that are very qualified and capable of bringing an NBA franchise to the city,” Hill said without naming those groups. “There’s no better place to bring the next franchise in the NBA but here. It’s been a basketball city forever, huge NBA following, and obviously we’ve got a great relationship (with the NBA) already. Folks have spoken publicly about wanting to bring this franchise (here). I think we’ll be well-represented in those conversations.”
Some of the people Hill alluded to include NBA star LeBron James, Hall of Famer and part-time Las Vegas resident Shaquille O’Neal and former boxing great Floyd Mayweather.
Potential arenas
Multiple groups are interested in building NBA-ready arenas in Las Vegas, including Denver-based venue development, management and hospitality firm Oak View Group and Las Vegas-based real estate firm LVXP.
Oak View has a long history of developing and operating arenas and stadiums worldwide, including Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, home of the NHL’s Kraken, where a potential NBA team would call home.
Oak View’s plans to build a $1 billion arena, surrounded by a multibillion-dollar resort project on Las Vegas Boulevard, just south of the Strip, were pulled last year. The group hasn’t publicly commented on where it plans to shift its attention, but early indications were that land next to the Rio was a possibility.
Oak View’s longtime CEO, Tim Leiweke, recently stepped down from his executive role and moved into one with the company’s board of directors after being indicted for bid-rigging in relation to an arena project the firm built for the University of Texas in Austin. It remains unclear to how that shift could impact Oak View’s Las Vegas NBA arena plans.
LVXP is looking to build an NBA-ready arena on the site of the former Wet N’ Wild, where Jackie Robinson’s All Net Arena project failed to come to fruition.
Plans call for a 20,000-seat arena with a 2,600-room hotel/condominium project and a 6,000-seat theater surrounding the facility. LVXP hired AECOM last year to design the arena, but not many developments, other than renderings, have occurred since.
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