Another NBA expansion deadline looms for Las Vegas bid groups

Editor’s note: This is simply a regular Sunday diagnostic to wrapper up quality and developments successful the NBA’s imaginable enlargement to Las Vegas and Seattle by the 2028-29 season. With one NBA enlargement deadline passed, another is approaching next period for those interested in landing a Las Vegas team. A day earlier this period included fiscal plans and lists of bid group members presented to the NBA and PJT Partners, the firm the league hired to assist with the enlargement process. A forthcoming deadline set for sometime next period is asking bid groups to provide more details about their portfolios, according to a study by The Athletic. A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to the Las Vegas Review‑Journal that a different deadline is expected for next month. The source was not authorized to speak publicly about the process, and the exact September deadline date remains unknown. The NBA also has a Board of Governors meeting scheduled for September in New York, which could offer some clarity on the enlargement process. The league has said it wants an answer by the end of the year on whether it will expand to Las Vegas and Seattle, to just one of the cities, or not at all. The Athletic also reported, citing anonymous sources, that the second bid deadline applies only to groups interested in Las Vegas and not Seattle. The report said the league is likely to move toward selecting an ownership group in Southern Nevada before making a decision on Seattle. The expansion fee, estimated to be between $7 billion and $10 billion, is expected to be higher for a Las Vegas bid than for Seattle, the study noted, with a Las Vegas franchise projected to cost around $9 billion. Ownership groups led by Golden Knights owner Bill Foley; Walmart heiress Nancy Laurie Walton and her husband, Bill Laurie; and the Las Vegas Jacks, which include former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, former NBA player and coach Vinny Del Negro and other executives, remain active in the process. A group headed by billionaire venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and former Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger recently dropped out after acquiring a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers. The MAGI group, which was led by NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, has gone quiet in recent months. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during a July league event in Las Vegas that there are additional interested groups in Las Vegas and Seattle that have not made their intentions public. More than a dozen NBA‑ready arena proposals are being floated across Southern Nevada, with most dependent on the winning bidder for a Las Vegas team partnering with them. Regardless of who is awarded the franchise, with the NBA eyeing the 2028‑29 season for potential expansion teams to begin play, any club that lands in Las Vegas would almost certainly have to play at T‑Mobile Arena in the short term. If Foley’s group were awarded the NBA team, he told the Review‑Journal in July that “renovations costing between $330 million and $400 million would be made to the present 10‑year‑old arena.” Foley noted that if his group were awarded the expansion franchise, “he would get the renovations started in early 2027 and have the bulk of them completed by the commencement of the 2028‑29 NBA season.” Foley said the potential improvements would include “adding about 1,000 seats, further suites and other upgrades to make the arena NBA‑ready. He also noted that he would build an NBA‑style facility in Summerlin.”