The venue’s estimated price tag is around $2 billion.
The National Basketball Association’s road to adding two teams has not even been mapped out yet. There have been rumors for years that Las Vegas and Seattle are going to be the two markets that will get expansion teams but nothing has materialized. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has teased expansion but with caveats. The money has to be right, the market has to be right which means there needs to be political and corporate support and a bigger TV market is helpful. The NBA has cleared some hurdles to get to the road to expansion with an American TV deal and there was a new collective bargaining agreement completed with the players but there may be another problem that has to be overcome. There are some questions about three markets and arena viability in Minneapolis, New Orleans and Portland.
If the NBA follows the Major League Baseball model, there will be no expansion until arena problems are solved. MLB still has not expanded by two because there were two market issues as Oakland and Tampa Bay could not get new stadiums built. John Fisher moved his Oakland franchise to Las Vegas and Tampa Bay Rays franchise ownership is attempting to complete a deal to sell the baseball team. The NBA has three problematic markets. The Portland Trail Blazers franchise is in the midst of being sold and it may not be until 2026 that new ownership can tackle the problem of getting a new arena. In Minneapolis, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez who have finally taken ownership of the NBA’s Timber Wolves and the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Lynx franchise, have begun the process of getting a new arena. In New Orleans, the Pelicans’ ownership’s lease with Louisiana to use the New Orleans arena ends in 2029. Those three arena issues may hinder the expansion process.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
