If you’re looking for a good sign on progress toward a Seattle Sonics NBA expansion team, a new report from ESPN might have one.
Ex-Seattle Sonics voice Kevin Calabro finds new home in the NBA
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported Tuesday that the NBA “is expected to select the winning bid for ownership of the Las Vegas expansion team in the very near future” and that the league “will hold a formal approval process by the end of December on two expansion teams.”
The NBA has been heading toward a final vote on expanding from two teams to 32 since March, when its board of governors approved exploring expansion teams specifically in Seattle and Las Vegas.
Charania also reported Tuesday that the final price tag for a franchise and new arena in Vegas could reach $12 billion to $13 billion, and that finalists for ownership of a Vegas team could then “join Seattle’s bidding process.”
One good sign to emerge from Charania’s report is that a more concrete timetable for a final vote on enlargement – ”a formal approval process by the end of December” – has apparently been set. Another reason is that with potential ownership of a Vegas team soon to be agreed upon, the league will be free to focus on Seattle, where there are fewer things to sort out logistically.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month that the league has talked more in its recent owners’ meetings about a potential Las Vegas team because of more variables at play than in Seattle, which has a venue ready to go in Climate Pledge Arena while Vegas has an unstable arena situation.
There’s also a clear favorite for a Seattle ownership group in One Roof Sports and Entertainment, led by Seattle Kraken president Samantha Holloway and majority owner of Climate Pledge Arena.
Charania reported Tuesday that the NBA continues to aim to add expansion teams to the league as early as the 2028-29 season.
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