The NBA’s board of governors is set to meet in Las Vegas on Tuesday to discuss potential expansion, but there reportedly isn’t much optimism that a new franchise in Seattle, Las Vegas or another city will be announced soon.
According to The Athletic’s David Aldridge and Mike Vorkunov, multiple sources said that “while Seattle remains a top candidate for a new or potentially relocated team among owners, there is not overwhelming momentum among governors to immediately expand past the current 30 teams.”
Aldridge and Vorkunov further explained that the main source of that resistance is the league’s new 10-year, $76 billion media rights deal that starts next season with new partners NBC, Peacock and Amazon Prime joining ABC and ESPN. The financial component has led most teams to prefer sticking with the status quo.
“Several owners would, at present, rather begin collecting and splitting the massive new revenues among the existing teams, rather than bringing in new partners that would also receive a cut of the financial pie,” Aldridge and Vorkunov stated.
Still, it appears that this hesitance would only delay potential expansion in the NBA rather than rule it out completely.
“There are people who are, I wouldn’t say rethinking, but asking why we need to move as quickly as we expected,” a senior team official told Aldridge and Vorkunov, adding that there is still a likelihood that the league will ultimately expand, just not right away.
Tuesday’s meeting is also expected to address the potential new European basketball league that the NBA is partnering with FIBA to create. Teams will also discuss the sales of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.
Source link
