Basketball: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media during a press conference at the St. Regis Hotel New York, NY 9/10/2025CREDIT: Erick W. Rasco (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Basketball: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media during a press conference at the St. Regis Hotel New York, NY 9/10/2025CREDIT: Erick W. Rasco (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania recently appeared on SportsCenter and gave the latest intel on the NBA’s expected expansion to 32 teams after the league met with the Board of Governors.
“The NBA and Adam Silver are in deeper and deeper stages of the expansion conversation. And I’m told specifically for Las Vegas the next round of bids for an expansion team in Las Vegas are due on Thursday, and then final bids expected to be some point shortly thereafter.”
“My understanding is proposals for that Vegas team are reaching and potentially exceeding $10 billion. And so far the Vegas process has moved with more pace than Seattle, but those Seattle conversations are continuing as well,” Shams Charania said.
“Remember, the league is targeting the 2028-29 season for the start of these expansion teams. They are also projecting both teams to be in the top 10 in terms of market and revenue share moving forward. So right now Adam Silver is going to continue the bidding process; it’s unclear when a final vote would be.”
“And I think over the next couple of months, we’re gonna get clarity on the final offers, potentially $10 billion-ish in Las Vegas, potentially $7 billion range in Seattle, and then a potential vote to finalize expansion to 32 teams,” Charania added.
The league is actively seeking more bids and expects the expansion to take effect in the summer of 2028, beginning with an expansion draft.
Adam Silver spoke to the media at a press conference after the Board of Governors meeting, where he addressed where the NBA currently is in the process of getting bids for both teams.
“Several active groups. I’ll leave it at that,” said Silver about how many groups they are looking at in the bidding process in Las Vegas. “I’ll say that there was a discussion led by Patrick Dumont, of course, who is a Las Vegas resident, enormous operating experience there in Las Vegas, just sort of as an independent objective party.”
“Led a discussion around the various sites, potential sites, in Las Vegas. I think that there is real excitement around either a renovated T-Mobile Arena. I think everyone acknowledges that if a team were to stay there, it needs some significant improvements.”
“But at the same time, there are groups who have presented plans to build what I would call a modern entertainment palace in Las Vegas. It’s a unique market where you could truly see essentially 365-day-a-year activity,” Silver further added.
“There was some discussion about how much the Sphere has impacted Las Vegas – what a technological marvel that is, what it’s meant as a showcase, and even what it’s meant economically for Las Vegas. So some discussions around in a similar vein. I think right now we’re at the point where there will be next-round bids coming in shortly, not final bids, but next-round bids coming in.”
“My personal view is it’s premature to start locking in a site. I think there are several different locations that would be very viable for NBA basketball in Las Vegas,” Silver concluded on Vegas.
“There was not as much discussion around Seattle as there was around Las Vegas, largely because, per the prior question, Las Vegas, it’s not even clear what the site will be, let alone the arena yet. Therefore, it’s a much longer timeline before we can throw the ball up for NBA basketball,” Adam Silver said when asked about the Seattle team.
“On the other hand, in Seattle, we have had operational groups out to Climate Pledge. You clearly have a state-of-the-art arena there. May require some modifications for NBA basketball. If we were opening in five weeks, we could be ready in Seattle.”
“Because we can only take on so much at once, more of the discussion was around Las Vegas. As you said in your question, I’ve been saying it’s our goal to have decisions by the end of the year. That continues to be our goal,” Silver further added.
One key takeaway is that the bidding war will be much more complex for the Las Vegas team, as it has many more interested groups and may involve building new real estate and a larger $10 billion investment.
Whereas Seattle already has the infrastructure to host an NBA team, the process is expected to be much smoother, and only two publicly known bidders are currently weighing their bids, expected to be in the $7 billion range.
If all goes well, we could see the two teams join the league as early as the summer of 2028, in two years. It will be very interesting to see who ends up owning the two franchises.