The moment so many cities have been waiting for is finally here, as the NBA will officially start to explore potential expansions during this upcoming season. It’s has been years since the first time Adam Silver mentioned the possibility of adding new franchises to the competition, but the league commissioner has confirmed it is now time.
However, two things stand between this happening. The first is that the NBA will only consider an expansion if the city is truly qualified for it and, the second is that they still have to finalize their new media rights deal, which is reportedly being agreed on $76 billion.
“We’re not quite done with our media deals yet, but once we are we will turn to consideration around expansion,” Silver said Tuesday at a news conference during the Summer League in Las Vegas.
The NBA will turn to a “consideration of expansion” after the league’s media rights deal is completed, commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday in Las Vegas.
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However, things aren’t so simple. If the league accepts a new NBA team, the payments directed for each franchise from the new media rights contact will be diluted between them. “Sometimes it seems as if we’re printing money when we expand, but it’s actually no different than selling equity in any business.
“So I think there needs to be a fair amount of modeling with the league office working with existing owners really thinking through the long-term prospects, again, not just economically but also for the potential for the delusion of talent. But having said that, I think we will engage this fall in earnest in the process of making those determinations of should we expand and if we were to expand, how many teams should we expand and what markets should we look at,” Silver explained.
According to the commissioner, having multiple possible venues would be a plus in the expansion process. “The availability of first-class arenas plays a big role in making those determinations with expansion,” Silver said. “We have not engaged in any direct conversations with either property owners here or those who are considering buying arenas.”
Las Vegas, for example, has had no shortage of interest of owning a potential franchise, as Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James have already voiced their desire to lead this project. “It’s wonderful to have all of that interest in this market, and we’ve taken note of who says if we do turn to expansion that they’d like to be part of the process,” said the NBA executive.
The league commissioner has expressed his excitement to keep building a relationship with Southern Nevada, which is where the Summer League is held
For the past years, the NBA has held many important events in Las Vegas, and Adam Silver expressed his excitement to keep building a relationship with the city. As the 20th Summer League is taking place and the NBA Cup set to return to the T-Mobile Arena, the future looks promising for an expansion.
“Now in the 20th year of the Summer League, we’ve estimated and been told that the economic impact is close to a quarter of a billion dollars,” the executive said. “We really appreciate how Las Vegas has developed in the 20 years we’ve been here, to the point where we can say it is the undisputed entertainment capital of the world. We look forward to doing even more here.”
With new and innovative venues such as Sphere hosting last month’s NHL draft, many entrepreneurs around the sport world are wondering if Las Vegas will attract other leagues to the city.
“We’re not looking to travel the draft at the moment, but I did watch the NHL draft on television, and I said it was a truly spectacular experience coming out of the Sphere,” Silver concluded.
