Talk of NBA expansion has been floated out to the public on numerous occasions over the last several years. However, the league could be taking its most serious step towards adding teams to the league as early as next week according to the latest reports.
Shams Charania reported on Monday that next week’s board of governors meeting will include a vote to explore adding two expansion franchises to the league for the 2028-29 season. The rumoured locations of these new teams would be in Las Vegas and Seattle.
With the league’s media rights deal wrapped up, the next big windfall of cash for owners would come via expansion fees. Anytime a new team joins the league, any fees collected go straight to the owner’s pockets and isn’t subject to revenue sharing agreements with the players.
And with the latest valuations on teams putting expansion fees somewhere in the neighbourhood of $7B, that would net each owner roughly $500M in revenue if they were to approve Seattle and Las Vegas. In order for the vote to pass, 23 of the league’s 30 governors would need to vote in favour of adding any new franchises.
Seattle has been discussed as a potential relocation target, or expansion city for years. Ever since the Super Sonics left for Oklahoma City, there’s been a grass roots movement to bring men’s professional basketball back to the Pacific-Northwest. Meanwhile, Vegas has been home to the NBA’s Summer League for years, and has hosted the championship rounds of the NBA Cup as well.
A move to the desert would officially cement Vegas’ status as a sports hub after the Raiders (NFL), Aces (WNBA), Golden Knights (NHL), and the as of yet rebranded Athletics (MLB) all moved to Nevada in recent years.
Other cities such as Mexico City, Vancouver, Montreal, Kansas City and Nashville have all been discussed as possible relocation sites over the years. However Seattle and Las Vegas appear to the be the clear front runners at the moment should the league opt to go from 30 to 32 teams.
The league is also planning to discuss its overseas expansion with talks of a potential NBA Europe league launching for 2027, and franchises being put up for sale in the Basketball Africa League as well.
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