The closer the NBA gets to resolving who will win ownership of their proposed new Las Vegas expansion franchise, the less certain it is when the inaugural season will actually begin. The league has long targeted a start date of the 2028-29 season for the new team in Sin City. Now, according to Mike Vorkunov of the Athletic, ambiguity surrounding the home arena threatens to delay its first season.
At issue is whether games will be played in T-Mobile Arena or in a new stadium that has yet to be constructed…or possibly both, with T-Mobile being the short-term home.
The NBA has narrowed the potential owners down to three groups: one headed by Walmart heir Nancy Walton Laurie, one by Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, and another by Canadian businessman Steve Apostolopoulos. The prospect of a new stadium has started a bidding war within a bidding war, as local power players on the strip fight for its development rights, complicating negotiations.
The extra $2-3 billion it would take to build a new stadium could push the final cost of the winning bid to somewhere in the $11-13 billion range, a high-stakes game befitting the gambling mecca. Meanwhile, the auction for the NBA’s other expansion franchise, the Seattle SuperSonics, has been estimated to be a more modest $6 billion.
The league has made it a priority to announce the winners of the Las Vegas franchise first, likely hoping that any runners-up will shift their attention to Seattle and drive up the expansion fees. The frontrunner to land control of the Sonics is a group led by Samantha Holloway, who not only owns Seattle’s NHL team, the Kraken, but also Climate Pledge Arena, a potential home for the expansion franchise.
While there is a competing offer for the Sonics from BlackSun Private Equity that proposes constructing a new stadium 35 miles outside of Seattle, no other contender looks ready to challenge Climate Pledge as their new home.
Dundon is in a standoff with the city of Portland regarding a renovation of the Moda Center and has used the expansion process and the threat of relocation for leverage in recent discussions with other owners and city officials, according to multiple ownership and industry sources.
With the reality of expansion getting closer every day, the shelf life on that leverage approaches its expiration.