It’s hard to imagine there could be a better choice to bring an NBA expansion team to Las Vegas than Bill Foley. He’s the only person on the planet who’s already done something like it, and the results have exceeded any possible expectations.
Of course, hockey and basketball are very different. But Foley’s leadership stewarding the Vegas Golden Knights, Nevada’s first major league professional sports franchise, to unbelievable success over its first nine seasons surely qualifies him as the frontrunner in the bidding for the city’s potential men’s pro basketball team.
On June 22, the VGK owner announced he is officially pursuing the award of a National Basketball Association franchise for Las Vegas, following the March announcement by league commissioner Adam Silver that expansion to Vegas and Seattle would be explored this year. Last week, Silver said the league is targeting the 2028-2029 season, if it does add one or two teams.
That’s pretty fast. The expected price tag for this brand-new team is somewhere between $7 and $10 billion. Whether it’s the group Foley is assembling or another owner, it will be an unprecedented cost; in 2025, two of the NBA’s most storied franchises, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, were sold for $6 billion and $10 billion, respectively.
Putting together the perfect combination of strategic ownership partners—and paying that hefty price—is only part of the task. You also have to figure out where your shiny new NBA team will play, and there are multiple development groups in different early stages of creating yet another arena in Las Vegas for that very purpose. They include LVXP on the former Wet ‘n Wild water park site on the north Strip; the Oak View Group, which is looking for a different site after moving on from a plot south of the Strip; and the more recently announced Starr Vegas and Diamond Arena plans. In a March Gaming Commission meeting, Resorts World President and CFO Carlos Castro suggested that north Strip property could use its unoccupied land to build an arena.
While Foley appears to be the leading candidate for those of us in Las Vegas, there are plenty other big names in the mix for potential ownership, including basketball legends Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal; Avenue Capital Group CEO and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry (who reportedly has WNBA legend and former Las Vegas Aces player Candace Parker on his ownership roster); and, most recently reported by Bloomberg, former Disney CEO Bob Iger.
In his first interview since the announcement of his new sports ambition—and just as the annual NBA Summer League returns to Las Vegas, bringing meetings of the league’s Board of Governors along for the ride—Foley tells the Weekly there’s still a lot of work to be done to get the NBA to award Las Vegas with a franchise, and he and his team are ready.
“We’re excited about the prospects and it’s a natural fit, but it’s very early in the process,” he says.
The key to the plan is making improvements to T-Mobile Arena, home of the Golden Knights, so the Vegas NBA team could play there as well—at least for some number of years. That might be the easiest way to meet the league’s startup goal two years from now.
If Foley’s group wins the bid, he will be the seventh owner to own a team in both the NHL and NBA. And 11 North American cities have arenas that host both teams, including Crypto.com Arena in LA, the United Center in Chicago, Ball Arena in Denver and Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The course has been set. The plan is in motion. This year could be the year that basketball-loving Las Vegas gets the team it has been waiting for.
When did you first start to consider NBA ownership?
We felt like it was something that was coming over a year ago, and mentally, we started getting ourselves ready for it. We made some changes at the Vegas Golden Knights in terms of our management structure and brought in some highly skilled individuals with NFL, NBA and NHL backgrounds, just to make sure our infrastructure was going to be in a position to help carry the ball in the event they decide to expand. The NBA made the announcement in March, but it’s all contingent upon the right transaction coming before the league.
The Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets clash during the first year of the NBA Summer League at Cox Pavilion on July 13, 2004.
There are some other potential ownership groups out there. Is there any possibility of consolidating efforts?
I think it’s highly likely. We’ve been in contact with three or four groups of individuals. Generally speaking, most don’t have a strong local connection other than they’re looking at a piece of ground for a potential new arena. I expect some compaction in the number of groups, some consolidation over the next 30 to 45 days. The whole process is complicated and it’s expensive, and the price for this franchise is going to be significant, but we don’t know what it is yet.
It seems like you have an advantage, especially when you’re talking about a local connection.
I think all the groups are starting from square one. The people I’m associated with or becoming associated with may have a little advantage because we own part of T-Mobile Arena and we’re close with AEG and MGM in terms of the management of the arena. It appears it would be the place to play for some period of time. But we also have a plan in place to improve the arena and ensure that it’s NBA-ready, in compliance with all the requirements.
It sounds complicated but it’s not as complicated as you might think. The footprint of T-Mobile includes an area on the northwest side, owned land, that would be perfect for an NBA facility such as it is—business offices, additional suites, even courts. We’ve done some work and there is a layout, but it’s going to take a lot more work, and as we speak now we’re working on it to make sure we’re ready with a plan when we do submit an application.
Why do you think it’s better for Las Vegas to put an NBA team at T-Mobile versus building a new arena?
I think a new arena is certainly possible and it would be state-of-the-art, probably one of the best arenas in the U.S. We believe we can make T-Mobile NBA-ready and it will take about $400 million to do that. We’re located at main and main, Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard in effect, and there’s adequate parking already in place. It’s not uncommon for NHL and NBA teams to play out of the same arena.
We think T-Mobile is a good option, but is it the option forever? Maybe, maybe not. Hopefully we would be part of that group that would build that arena, but T-Mobile is ready and with some additions … it’s a fantastic arena and we can make it much better. Our plan includes adding roughly 1,000 seats, adding high-end suites, and [enhancing] the hospitality piece. We have a good plan in place. We’re not so bold to say it’s the only plan that could make sense, but certainly it’s a place to play a number of years if another arena is to be built. That’s how we look at it.
Do you think it could be easier in some way to build this franchise because Las Vegas has a significant basketball history, compared to starting from scratch with hockey and the NHL?
I think Vegas is definitely NBA-ready. It does have a history of summer leagues and exhibition games played in Las Vegas. When we got the NHL franchise back in 2016, Las Vegas had 1.8 million people. Today it’s 2.4 million. It’s a different town, and the NBA represents a different business opportunity. The NHL is fantastic, we love our team and love our connection with the community, and we would want to develop the same connection with the community with the NBA, if we were fortunate enough to be chosen.
The NBA is truly international. It’s very strong in Asia and Europe, especially with the number of players coming to play from Europe. We think we could really market it and do a great job, not just locally but nationally and internationally.
History of Hoops: Las Vegas already has a long legacy of NBA action
JAZZ “HOME” GAMES 1983-84
When the New Orleans Jazz relocated to Salt Lake City in 1979, the team played in the 12,700-seat Salt Palace. Heading into the 1983-84 season—in an effort to build its audience and make more money—the Jazz worked out a deal to play 11 games at the newly built Thomas & Mack Center, and the first NBA game in Las Vegas was Utah vs. Chicago at the Mack on November 23, 1983, attended by more than 13,000 fans. (The arena’s capacity was only 15,000 back then.)
In that same season, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set the all-time regular-season scoring record in Las Vegas on April 5, 1984, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s career total of 31,419 points as the Lakers beat the Jazz.
LAKERS EXHIBITION GAMES 1988
Los Angeles is the closest NBA city to Las Vegas, and since so many Southern Californians have moved here through the years, it makes sense that Vegas has sort of adopted the Lakers. The team played its first preseason exhibition game in 1988 against the Phoenix Suns—the next closest team—and it’s been more or less an annual tradition since 1993.
LAKERS PLAYOFF GAME 1992
The Lakers’ 1991-92 season ended with a Game 4 playoff loss May 3, 1992 to the Portland Trail Blazers—in Las Vegas. It was supposed to be a home game for LA at the Forum in Inglewood, but the game was relocated to the Thomas & Mack at the last minute due to the civil unrest after the Rodney King verdict on April 29.
SUMMER LEAGUE 2004
The NBA Summer League, which gives teams an opportunity to compete with an extended roster including rookie and developmental players, began in Orlando, Florida in 2002 and expanded to multiple cities, including Las Vegas in 2004. Returning to UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion this year July 9-19, the league will broadcast all 76 games on Prime Video or ESPN platforms.
Dwight Howard competes in the Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas on February 17, 2007.
ALL-STAR WEEKEND 2007
The NBA All-Star Game was held at the Thomas & Mack Center on February 18, 2007, with the Western Conference team winning big, Kobe Bryant taking MVP honors, and UNLV grad Shawn Marion playing as an All-Star selection from the Suns. It was the first time the game was played in a city without an NBA franchise. Mayor Oscar Goodman met with then-NBA commissioner David Stern during the weekend’s events to discuss the potential of a Vegas team.
NBA CUP 2023
Originally dubbed the In-Season Tournament and now known as the Emirates NBA Cup, this league innovation has been successful in drumming up excitement for fans during the long regular season while raising the stakes for players (who receive prize money if their team wins). The tournament championship, held in December, has been played at T-Mobile Arena since its inception.
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