SEATTLE — NBA expansion in Seattle “is no longer a lock,” according to a published report that raises immediate questions about whether the league is trying to generate competition or create leverage to increase the price of a franchise.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Friday that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver “left owners with the impression that a Seattle expansion team was no longer a lock” during the September Board of Governors meeting in New York.
The report also suggests that a Mexico City-based group could have attracted the league’s attention.
There was immediate consternation among SuperSonic hopefuls, who have long yearned for basketball’s return to one of America’s largest non-franchise markets.
Silver said last month that Seattle could host a team in a very specific “five weeks” at Climate Pledge Arena and that the league had focused on Las Vegas and Seattle for expansion teams.
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While Las Vegas appears to have multiple bidders willing to pay upwards of $9-10 billion for a franchise, Seattle has just one, led by Samantha Holloway.
The Seattle franchise could still cost between $6 billion and $7 billion, according to industry sources, but has not generated the same type of bidding war as the one in Las Vegas.
A second group, focused on building an arena on the Tulalip reservation, said it would also make a bid, but tribal leaders said they had not committed money to the proposal and had only offered the land for the project.
Silver has long said the league will decide whether to expand by the end of this year. The league is also trying to finalize a deal to create a European league that would begin play in 2027.
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Holloway’s One Roof Sports and Entertainment declined to comment on the ESPN report.
If the league were to expand to Vegas and Seattle for a total of $17 billion, each owner would pocket more than $566 million.
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