Three Groups Vie for Las Vegas NBA Expansion Team
The NBA is close to selecting a winning bidder for a Las Vegas expansion franchise, with three finalist ownership groups competing.
Three finalist groups are competing for the Las Vegas NBA expansion team, with a decision expected in the very near future. The league will go through the formal approval process by the end of December.
Three ownership groups are finalists for the Las Vegas NBA expansion team, including one led by Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo. The competing groups are led by Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie, and by Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry.
Colangelo-Foley group details
The Las Vegas Jacks group, led by Jerry Colangelo and Bill Foley, announced its bid in July. The group includes former Turner Sports president David Levy, Scott Colangelo, and former NBA players Jay Williams and Vinny Del Negro.
Jerry Colangelo is a Hall of Famer, former NBA governor, and longtime managing director of USA Basketball. He currently chairs the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Bill Foley owns the NHL's Las Vegas Golden Knights and English soccer club AFC Bournemouth.
The Las Vegas Jacks intend to play at T-Mobile Arena initially while a new arena is built. They describe their planned venue as a next-generation basketball-centric multi-purpose sports, entertainment and convention venue. Jerry Colangelo expressed strong commitment to the project. We all are committed and working as hard as we can to bring the league, owners and the fans, the best proposal and end product possible to Las Vegas, he said.
Competing bids and broader context
The other finalist groups bring significant sports ownership experience. Nancy Walton Laurie is a Walmart heiress and cousin of Denver Broncos owner Rob Walton. She and her husband Bill Laurie, a former owner of the NHL's St. Louis Blues, already have a home in the Las Vegas area.
Steve Apostolopoulos is partnered with Marc Lasry, a former NBA governor and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. Lasry sold his share of the Bucks at a $3.5 billion valuation to Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.
The NBA approved Las Vegas and Seattle as expansion exploration cities in March. Expansion teams could debut as soon as the 2028-29 season. While Las Vegas is the immediate focus, one group that falls short there could potentially join the bidding for a Seattle team.
Seattle's situation is different. It already has Climate Pledge Arena ready, owned by Samantha Holloway of the NHL's Seattle Kraken. NBA commissioner Adam Silver noted the Seattle arena's readiness. "In Seattle, we have had operational groups out to Climate Pledge [Arena]. You clearly have a state-of-the-art arena there," Silver said. He added that if opening in five weeks, Seattle could be ready for NBA basketball.
Las Vegas, however, is expected to need a new arena. The league could use T-Mobile Arena or another venue as a stopgap, similar to how the Toronto Raptors used the SkyDome initially. Renovating T-Mobile Arena is an option, but Silver said it would require significant improvements.
Las Vegas has never had an NBA franchise but is a major sports hub. It hosts the NBA Summer League, hosted the 2007 All-Star Game, and is home to the WNBA's Aces, NFL's Raiders, and NHL's Golden Knights, with MLB's Athletics also coming.
The deal for the Las Vegas expansion team will include a new arena and is expected to be worth at least $12 billion. The NBA will go through the formal approval process by the end of December.
