By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Bill Foley remembers Gary Bettman’s stern lecture to him nearly a decade ago.
After Foley expressed confidence back in 2016 that the National Hockey League would add a team in Las Vegas, the NHL Commissioner gave Foley quite the chewing out about Foley declaring Las Vegas was going to get a NHL expansion franchise. A 1967 West Point graduate, the 80-year-old Vegas Golden Knights owner said he was not spoken to like that since his days as a plebe (freshman) at the U.S. Military Academy north of New York City.
So, Foley has learned his lesson. He is not talking publicly whether the National Basketball Association will add a team in Las Vegas.
Bill Foley at VGK game.
But that’s not stopping Foley from saying he’s more than willing to invest $300 million to upgrade T-Mobile Arena and make it a hospitable venue to host an NBA team some day. Foley owns 15 percent of the arena that opened in April 2016 as the home for the VGK and UFC.
“T-Mobile Arena is the perfect place for an NBA team to play,” Foley told Vegas PBS in December. “We have a plan in place to spend about $300 million to improve T-Mobile, add seats, add hospitality, add suites, in particular, and upgrade the park.”
Lakers vs Pacers at T-Mobile Arena at NBA’s in-season tournament. Photo credit: J. Tyge O’Donnell
Bill Foley
NBA coaches and players believe it’s inevitable that Las Vegas will get an NBA team.
Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers, responding to an LVSportsBiz.com postgame question about Las Vegas and the NBA after an NBA Cup tournament game at T-Mobile Arena in December, said Las Vegas will eventually get an NBA franchise.
Rivers joked, though, that Las Vegas should not snag an NBA team from another market.
Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put it this way: “It’s only a matter of time.”
There’s no shortage of potential arenas for an NBA team to call home in Las Vegas, though arena builder Tim Leiweke who wants to build an arena in Vegas took a hit last week when the U.S. Justice Department accused Leiweke of bid-rigging in an arena project at the University of Texas. Leiweke has moved off his initial arena site at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road, but he did not publicly disclose his next arena site in Las Vegas.
A development group called LVXP wants to build an NBA arena as part of a mixed-use development at the old Wet N Wild site on the north end of the Strip, but no construction has begun. This is the site where Las Vegas businessman Jackie Robinson, a former UNLV basketball player, unsuccessfully attempted to start an arena project.
LVXP arena rendering
Here’s a a look at that site:
The NBA team owners are slated to meet in Las Vegas Tuesday and it will be hard for the NBA Board of Governors members to not chat about the topic of a team in Las Vegas, even if it’s between sips of coffee or soda.
After the Board of Governors meeting, Silver will meet the press during Day 6 of the 11-day Las Vegas Summer League.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver
Related