Vegas Positioned for NBA Expansion Team, but Where Will It Play?
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas gets another high-profile basketball event with Tuesday’s championship game of the Emirates NBA Cup. The title game, however, again raises the question of whether the eight-year-old arena will be the home of an eventual NBA expansion franchise.
It’s long been believed Las Vegas is at or near the top of the league’s list of potential expansion markets, should it look to grow beyond 30 teams. Long before the NBA even formalizes a process to add new franchises, though, there are now at least three different potential site candidates in Las Vegas for a team, further complicating an issue that has to define itself fully.
Oak View Group has been at this the longest, with a plan dating back nearly three years for a large-scale resort and NBA-ready arena near the south end of the famed Las Vegas Strip. Much more recently, the Clark County (Nev.) Zoning Commission unanimously approved several key components for a somewhat similar project called LVXP near the north end of the Strip.
In between them is the existing arena, one in which Golden Knights owner Bill Foley wants to invest $300 million for improvements, and says building a new venue for the NBA in Las Vegas is a “waste of time,” adding that T-Mobile “is a perfect place for an NBA team.” Foley’s planned upgrades—being considered in coordination with the venue’s other two owners, AEG and MGM Resorts International—span a range of projects, including additional seating, new luxury-seating areas, and enhancements to the facility’s exterior footprint.
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