The NBA has decided to consider expanding past its current 30-team lineup after the league’s owners voted to start exploring the process of adding franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, the NBA Board of Governors voted to approve what is being called an exploration of “potential team expansion,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. As a result, prospective ownership groups will now be tasked with putting together their bids and plans in an effort to prove to the league that they’re worthy of owning franchises.
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Las Vegas, which has been the NBA’s summer home for years and the site of the first NBA Cup championship games, has wanted a team since at least the 1990s; however, Seattle has been waiting for the SuperSonics to return home for nearly two decades.
“I think Seattle and Las Vegas, in terms of their history and support of NBA basketball, are unique in terms of available markets in the U.S. right now,” Silver said. “No knock on any other markets. Those are just the markets we’re focused on.”
However, expansion is not guaranteed, Silver noted. The NBA could add zero teams, one team or two teams. And there was discussion of what adding teams will mean both economically and on the court, citing concerns about how adding two new clubs with players means existing teams could lose talent in the process.
“There are some owners who felt that we just frankly don’t need to expand,” Silver said. “They didn’t necessarily seem concerned going forward, but they felt we’re at a very solid place with the 30-team league we have now.”
Silver said the Arena stake was not a prerequisite for the NBA.
“I don’t want to say necessarily it’s needed. I know Sam well. I knew her father very well. I know they’re doing a fantastic job with the Kraken, and I don’t think that there are any questions that she is interested in potentially leading a group,” he said. “I have no doubt there will be other bids.”
One Seattle-based bid group says they’re ready, and it is not immediately clear if there are others.
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Silver also said in an interview, “To be the principal owner requires paying 15% of the equity. There may be situations where people are dying to be part of a group, but they can’t put together the total amount. One thing that investment bankers can do on our behalf is help combine interested parties.”
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is scheduled to speak with Silver on Thursday morning. She was wearing a Sonics t-shirt from her office in City Hall and said the news was important for many people and a matter of civic pride.
Tod Leiweke of the newly created One Roof Sports and Entertainment said the group believes it has already cleared the hardest hurdle by delivering Climate Pledge Arena without returning to taxpayers for additional help, even as construction costs rose during the pandemic.
“We’re battle-tested,” Leiweke said. “The hardest part of this is now done.”
He said Seattle’s bid would be built around stability and execution rather than celebrity. While some potential ownership groups elsewhere may lean on star power, Leiweke said Seattle’s strength is its ability to deliver a franchise “and do it well.”
“The NBA, if ultimately they push ahead and want to expand, they’re going to want to make sure that it’s done well, that there’s no drama, that there’s no slips, there’s no mistakes,” Leiweke said.
Leiweke declined to discuss possible partners, investors or financial details, including what could be a multibillion-dollar expansion fee. But he said the organization has spent years preparing for the moment and believes there are no major gaps in its proposal.
“There’s not a missing piece here,” Leiweke said. “There’s not a leap of faith with the owner, with how we’ve conducted ourselves with this arena. We’re ready. Let’s go.”
He also said any formal bid would include plans beyond the arena itself, including practice and training facilities and a G League component, though he declined to offer specifics.
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Beyond the business case, Leiweke repeatedly framed a potential NBA return as a civic opportunity for Seattle and the Northwest, saying the franchise could provide another lift for a region still waiting for pro basketball’s return after the Sonics left in 2008.
Asked what an NBA team would mean to the city, Leiweke pointed to Seattle’s history as a sports town and the response fans have already shown to the Seahawks, Sounders, Storm and Kraken.
“It’s an incredible thing to dream about,” Leiweke said.
Leiweke also said accessibility would be a priority if Seattle lands a team, pointing to the Kraken’s community efforts as a model for how the organization would try to make pro basketball reachable for families and young fans.
“The potential of the NBA to impact this community is profound, and we know it,” Leiweke said. “It’s one of the most exciting parts of this whole thing for me.”
In a statement provided to KOMO News, One Roof Sports and Entertainment responded to the NBA Board of Governors’ vote:
Seattle has long been ready for this moment. Over the last decade, One Roof Sports and Entertainment has built Climate Pledge Arena into an incredible home for live sports, and it is NBA-ready. We have launched the Seattle Kraken and demonstrated our deep commitment to our community and the fans. We are ready to work with the Commissioner and the league, at their direction, to explore bringing the NBA back to Seattle. We share in the excitement of this city’s passionate fans and, if we are successful, our focus will be on ensuring the long-term, sustainable success of an NBA team in Seattle