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On Tuesday, the NBA’s Board of Governors sat down in New York City to discuss several topics at hand, including the Los Angeles Clippers’ salary cap maneuvers with Kawhi Leonard and the new NBA Europe project.
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Perhaps the biggest discussion, however, involved the NBA’s upcoming expansion from 30 to 32 teams. It’s clear the topic is no longer private and that more information has begun to emerge, as the league is expected to debut two new franchises as soon as the start of the 2028-29 season.
During the NBA Finals in June, as the buzz around the topic kept rising, commissioner Adam Silver gave a sneak peek at the league’s future plans.
“Discussions are ongoing,” said Silver. “I think everyone knows at this point we’re focused on Las Vegas and Seattle. There are multiple groups interested in both cities. We are in discussions with them. The timeline, as I’ve said before, it’s not a foregone conclusion that we will expand either in one city or both cities.”
“But what we’ve told all interested parties is our anticipation our board will make a decision by the end of this calendar year.”
Small price to pay for enormous future earnings
Fast forward to today and the expansion is most likely the biggest discussion in the basketball world.
During the meeting on Tuesday, Silver revealed that Las Vegas received more attention than Seattle, largely because bringing a team there is a more grueling process than in Seattle, which previously hosted a franchise and thus has a preferred site and arena to play in.
Still, the NBA is known to make things happen for its own benefit, especially considering the massive revenue the two expansion teams could generate, per Brian Windhorst.
“They haven’t said we’re for sure going to expand to Vegas and Seattle and they haven’t said whether they’re going to expand to Vegas and Seattle at the same time,”
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“Having said that, I expect them to expand to Vegas and Seattle at the same time.”
“I talked to an owner recently who told me that they are budgeting getting between $5 and $6 million in expansion fees, which means they believe that the two teams will generate between $15 and $18 billion in sale. It sounds to me like that owner is going to be voting for expansion.“
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The final round of bids is getting closer
Money talks, as they say, and investors are closely listening because it was reported by Shams Charania that the league has been in deep talks with potential investors, with the next round of bids set to start this Thursday and final bids soon after.
“My understanding is proposals for that Vegas team is reaching and potentially exceeding $10 billion,”said Charania. “So far the Vegas process has moved with more pace than Seattle, but those Seattle conversations are continuing as well.”
“They are also projecting both teams to be in top ten in terms of market and revenue share moving forward. So, right now, Adam Siver is going to continue the bids process. It’s unclear when the final vote would be. I think over the next couple of months we’re going to get clarity on the final offers.”
Over the next couple of days, more news is expected to leak to the public and it is possible the bidding numbers will get out of hand.
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This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 7:39 AM.