The NBA is expected to select the winning bid for a Las Vegas expansion team in the “very near future,” reports ESPN’s Shams Charania. According to Charanya, three groups are considered finalists, and the cost of the team and the new arena is expected to be at least 12-13 billion dollars.
The three groups in the mix are as follows:
- Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie: Nancy is the daughter of Walmart co-founder James “Bud” Walton, and her husband Bill used to own the St. Louis Blues NHL team. The couple lives in Las Vegas and has a net worth of $17 billion, according to Charanya, quoted by Forbes.
- Steve Apostalopoulos and Mark Lasry: Apostalopoulos, a Canadian businessman and real estate executive, is the managing partner of Triple Group of Companies and founded the private equity firm Six Ventures. The 46-year-old billionaire has previously expressed interest in buying the Hornets Michael Jordan in 2023, for Charanya. Lasry, a former Bucks co-owner, sold his stake Jimmy Haslam in 2023. This group also includes Jim Apostalopoulos and Peter ApostalopoulosSteve’s brothers.
- Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo: Foley is the majority owner of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and AFC Premier League club Bournemouth, while Colangelo is a four-time NBA Executive of the Year who previously owned the Suns. Colangelo is there known to be interested in acquiring the Las Vegas expansion team through its Las Vegas Jacks group, which also includes the former president of Turner Sports David Levy and former NBA guards Jay Williams and Vinnie del Negroamong other things, and wants to build a new arena in Vegas. He collaborated with Foley in the process.
NBA Board of Governors voted in March to formally explore the possibility of adding expansion franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle. The league has been checking out potential ownership groups in both markets over the past few months, and there appears to be momentum for new teams to end up in both markets.
As Charania detailed, the league is expected to go through a “formal approval process” by the end of the year. Las Vegas has been a priority in the short term because there are more bidders and because there is no ready-made arena for an NBA team to move into, such as Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.
T-Mobile Arena, where the Vegas Knights play, is being considered as a possible home for an NBA franchise, but the commissioner Adam Silver confirmed at this month’s Board of Governors meetings that he would need a rebuild to be considered NBA-ready. This could be a short-term solution while the new arena is being built.
According to Charanya, another reason the NBA is focusing on Las Vegas in the first place is in case the runner-up teams want to participate in the bidding process in Seattle. Samantha Hollowaymajority owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, is considered the favorite to bring an NBA expansion team to the city, though at least one other contender said that in the picture.
