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Ownership Group To Bring NBA Expansion Team To Las Vegas Reportedly Lined Up Around Jay Bloom
When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked about a possible NBA expansion in recent years, he usually answered the question with ‘this is something the league isn’t really considering at this moment’.
But when asked the same question on opening night, at the beginning of this season last December, Silver surprised everyone when he replied to the same question he’s been asked numerous times, by giving a different response:
“I think I’ve always said that it’s sort of the manifest destiny of the league that you expand at some point. I’d say it’s caused us to maybe dust off some of the analyses on the economic and competitive impacts of expansion. We’ve been putting a little bit more time into it than we were pre-pandemic.”
While Silver also stated that this wasn’t a top priority at this time, it does give hope to millions of people hoping their hometown might get an NBA franchise at some point in the next few years, most and foremost the people of Seattle and Las Vegas, who seem to be the front-runners in a potential expansion.
It appears as Las Vegas already has a package ready. A report by Yahoo Sports suggests that billionaire Jay Bloom will be leading the possible ownership group that would be able to stem the estimated $2.5 billion per team expansion fee.
“Las Vegas’s Jay Bloom is leading an ownership group that is now reported to have completed circling the funds to purchase the NBA’s Las Vegas expansion franchise under consideration, putting his group as the favorite to come up with the new NBA team in Las Vegas…
Bloom’s partners include such big names as famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins and former NBA 14-year veteran, and Las Vegas local Marcus Banks III, among other major powerhouse individuals and notable persons.
Jay Bloom also has the political relationships with the State Legislature, County Commissioners, and Governor’s mansion to make this happen, especially given that no public funds are expected to be needed for the project, as it will be entirely privately funded.”
