LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — There’s exciting news for basketball fans.
ESPN is reporting that the NBA will hold a vote at the Board of Governors meetings next week to explore adding expansion teams Las Vegas and Seattle.
It’s an idea that’s been floating around for years. And now it’s closer to becoming a reality.
“I mean, being Las Vegas should be and will be the number one sports destination,” said Robert Wagner.
Wagner is the VP of Operations for luxury memorabilia company Inscriptagraphs. He’s also a born and raised Las Vegan.
“I think you’re going to have a mixture, but it’s really going to open up for tourism here, especially, you know, with our involvement with the memorabilia, we’ve been seeing a lot of impact with a lot of tourists coming through,” said Wagner.
Wagner and professional sports better Marco D’Angelo gave very different answers on where they would like to see the team play.
“I would like to see arena just off the Strip, so we don’t have to deal with all that traffic, but that’s just me being selfish. I’ll go wherever they’re at,” said D’Angelo.
” Well, you know, we could work on our roads a little bit on the Strip, but I would love to see it on the Strip, but let’s tidy up that construction first,” said Wagner.
TC Martin, Sports Talk Show host and Voice of Las Vegas Aces, shared possibilities on a location.
He shared two viable options.
“The immediate option would be playing the games at T-Mobile Arena,” said Martin. “I think the ultimate goal is to build an NBA arena, a new one. And they’re talking about the north end of the Strip.”
The goal is that the new franchises would start playing in the 2028-2029 season.
They’re projecting bids anywhere from $7-$10 billion for a team in Las Vegas.
How could this be paid for?
Major NBA figures have shared interest in holding a stake in a Las Vegas team, including Lebron James, and Shaquille O’Neal.
“So the leader in the clubhouse, basically, is Magic Johnson,” said Martin. “He has been talked about this with his investment group. And so there is that, you know, ability probably not to ask the public for money.”
But Martin says it’s too early to tell who the owner could be and whether taxpayer dollars will be involved.
“And there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to want to bid, you know, on this because they see this as a very, very viable option,” he said. “And the NBA is predicting that this could be one of the top 10 most profitable organizations when it lands in Las Vegas.”
And then there’s another big question. What would the team be named?
“That caught me by surprise on that one,” said D’Angelo. “How about the Vegas Jackpots?”
“The Scorpions is what I’m hearing,” said Martin.
The Board of Governors needs at least 23 of 30 governors next week to vote in favor to get to the bidding process.
There would potentially be a final vote later in the year to finalize expanding the two teams, according to ESPN..