Editor’s note: This is a regular Sunday feature to wrap up news and developments in the NBA’s possible expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle by the 2028-29 season.
Raiders and Aces owner Mark Davis remains mum on whether he’s looking to get involved in a Las Vegas NBA expansion bid group but has not ruled out the prospect.
Davis, as he has on multiple occasions in the past, declined to say if he had interest in a Vegas NBA franchise during a sit-down interview with CNBC.
“I’ve been careful about not talking about it, per se,” Davis said. “I usually do things behind the scenes, more so than in front. So, I’ll leave it at that. But I am excited that the NBA is coming. I’m excited (MLB) baseball is coming.”
Davis’ step around on the question seems to suggest something might be in the works, as he hasn’t outright denied it and has been very strategic to not reveal his dealings.
If Davis were to join one of the remaining bid groups, the one headed by Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband, Bill Laurie, would seem to make the most sense. Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban, who owns 22 percent of the Raiders and has the right of first refusal should Davis decide to sell the Raiders, joined that group last month.
Davis spoke highly of Durban in the CNBC interview.
“I didn’t know Egon (Durban) that well,” Davis said this week. “When I met Egon, I felt that he was one of the smartest people that I’ve come across in the business world and the connections and things of that nature. … Leaving Oakland and coming to Las Vegas we were going to have to build the infrastructure of the organization and I felt that Egon was the right person to help do that.”
As the calendar progresses rapidly toward the end of the year, the NBA and PJT Partners, the investment bank the league hired to assist them in the expansion process, are expected to select a winning bid soon. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said from the beginning that the league would like to make a final decision before the end of 2026.
Outside of the Walton-Laurie group, a group led by Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo and another featuring former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos remain in the hunt.
The NBA also needs to decide on a Seattle bid winner and then hold a vote of the league’s board of governors to officially approve expansion. Of the 30 NBA team owners, 23 of them most vote in favor of expansion for it to be approved.
The Las Vegas expansion fee is expected to be around $10 billion, with an additional $2 billion to $3 billion investment needed to build a new NBA arena in Sin City.
There’s been an array of arena deals pitched over the recent years, but there is real momentum for the venue to land on the north Strip, near Resorts World and Fountainebleau, which would help infuse new energy into the area.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
