PhatYeeter | 76ers

368 | 3 hours ago

The new owners have to pay a premium to the current owners when buying in because of all the revenue sharing that exists.

dont-YOLO-ragequit | Raptors

118 | 3 hours ago

Hence why owners purposely tried to force Seattle into an expansion rather than a relocation.

MysteriousEdge5643 | Supersonics

145 | 3 hours ago

I’m thankful for that because no fanbase should ever have to go through the relocation of their team

dont-YOLO-ragequit | Raptors

36 | 3 hours ago

I mean some owners are very bad and deserve the disaster that comes with it.

Schultz really tried to lowball Payton because he was CEO of a coffee shop company and couldn’t wrap his head around having to spend millions on one player to make 100s of millions on TV, Sales and franchise value ( and that’s what the GM gets paid for) all while the league handles marketing.

buzzcitybonehead | CHA

22 | 3 hours ago

The NBA/governors imo should be quicker to force shitty owners to sell, but relocation sucks a lot for fans. I don’t think there could ever be a circumstance where I’d root for a city to lose their team

lava172 | Suns

19 | 3 hours ago

But the fans don’t deserve any of it, is the point they were no shit making

1azaz1 | Knicks

5 | 3 hours ago

Also think I remember reading that joe lacob had to be convinced by his gm to max curry in between their 3rd and 4th title not fully grasping how curry added billions in value to the team by just being there

NBAWhoCares

6 | 3 hours ago

This wouldnt apply to the Pelicans

RunBarryRunn | Suns

3 | 2 hours ago

Pour one out for my Phoenix Coyotes :(

pretzeldoggo | Kings

2 | 3 hours ago

With how Vivek has been…. I’m at the point if the Seattle owner was going to be better and help achieve more playoff success, I would have been all for it

someguyfromsomething | Mexico

1 | 9 minutes ago

We tried. Literally bought the team and the owners rescinded the sale, totally not because of politics, according to the league.

incredibleamadeuscho | Lakers

2 | 2 hours ago

I hope the Sonics can become great so we get a Sonics/Thunder rivalry.

bullionlogic | Cavaliers

1 | 3 hours ago

agree…

Minimum_Setting3847

1 | an hour ago

Tell that to the bears …

ositola | Lakers

5 | 3 hours ago

Gotta buy into the TV deal

CutLonzosHair2017 | LAL

2 | 3 hours ago

But why wouldn’t a prospective buyer just buy an existing team and buy in that way?

ForgotMyPassword1989 | Supersonics

30 | 3 hours ago

How many teams are for sale right now?

10001110101balls

13 | 3 hours ago

A price tag of $7 to $10 billion would probably bring out a bunch of owners interested in at least talking about it.

Reagles

8 | 3 hours ago

If someone came to them offering $7-10 Billion? You dont have to be looking to sell to consider an offer like that.

tangential_quip | Lakers

8 | 2 hours ago

If any owner announced tomorrow they wanted to sell they would get an offer like that, and they know that. Someone approaching them with the offer doesn’t change the calculus. The current owners care more about remaining owners than selling right now.

Reagles

6 | 2 hours ago

The Celtics sold for $6B. They are one of the more valuable franchises. The Lakers are probably the most valuable and sold for $10B. For most franchises, that range is more than they would expect to get if they wanted to sell.

xXTheMuffinMan

2 | 2 hours ago

Didn’t the celtics sell for 6b a year ago?

CutLonzosHair2017 | LAL

-1 | 3 hours ago

Don’t think we would ever know if a team was up for sale unless it was out of desperation. Lakers sold last year without anyone getting a whiff of it until it was announced. But I wouldn’t expect any team to sell because the current owners would want the $500M from expansion.

Still doesn’t make any sense to me. If you’re an prospective ownership group, why not buy another franchise for far less?

PhatYeeter | 76ers

11 | 3 hours ago

You’re acting like you can just go to the NBA team shop and check out with an NBA team during a lunch break.

BlindManBaldwin | Nuggets

8 | 3 hours ago

The NBA has to approve ownership transactions and relocations. They wouldn’t let someone buy a team and move them to Seattle.

AKAD11 | SEA

5 | an hour ago

We literally tried to do this with the Kings and the owners voted down relocation

CutLonzosHair2017 | LAL

0 | 3 hours ago

If an ownerships goal is to own a team in Seattle, then yes, they’re paying a premium for that. But if its to own and NBA team, they why?

Seattle has a history, so that makes sense. As there would be prospective owners who grew up with the Sonics. But Vegas?

buzzcitybonehead | CHA

3 | 3 hours ago

I think the bigger point is that there are currently only 30 of these assets and they’re often held for decades. You can wait for something desirable to become available, but marquee franchise like LAL and BOS sold pretty recently. You’re likely looking at a mid-tier or small market next time something becomes available.

Seattle and Vegas aren’t the absolute best markets, but they’re better than a lot. An owner starting fresh would be in a good position to establish branding, an arena for outside revenue, etc. so there are definitely benefits to expansion vs. buying.

not-who-you-think | Supersonics

2 | an hour ago

The Kraken people have the inside track on the Sonics. They spent a billion on renovations, and just recently bought a majority share in Climate Pledge Arena fka KeyArena. So they can start making the league extra money on day one.

Seattle isn’t as big as Mexico City or Vancouver, but it’s the 13th biggest media market in the U.S. and the 10th wealthiest metro area.

The only bigger media market without a team is Tampa at 11 but they have the Heat and Magic. The next biggest is Raleigh-Durham at 22 (Hornets, plus college hoops) and St Louis at 24.

SLCamper | Supersonics

1 | an hour ago

FYI - Seattle is actually bigger than Vancouver.

Vancouver metro area is approximately 3.1 million.

Seattle metro area is approximately 4.1 million.

ahoy_shitliner | Bulls

2 | 3 hours ago

Gambling and Vegas alone can draw demand

CutLonzosHair2017 | LAL

1 | 3 hours ago

You can gamble anywhere now.

pthumbz

1 | an hour ago

Not in person. People still go to vegas to gamble, slightly less than before sure but its still a thing

BlindManBaldwin | Nuggets

2 | 3 hours ago

The NBA does not want relocation right now. They want the big expansion fees.

Mammoth-Physics6254 | Mavericks

3 | 3 hours ago

being able to get the sweet Las Vegas and Seattle markets also owning a team is mostly a vanity project for most of these billionaires anyway.

CutLonzosHair2017 | LAL

4 | 3 hours ago

sweet Las Vegas

Is it? Vegas is in decline. Both financially and as a landmark.

Someonediffernt | PHO

3 | 3 hours ago

Vegas is still the 24th largest City in the US by population and the new NHL team they added has sold out every single home game.

It’s a great spot to own a sports team.

BomberManeuver

3 | 3 hours ago

The Celtics publicly announced they were for sale before the team was sold. With the Lakers, it was fairly obvious who the buyer would be, so they skipped the whole song and dance.

AKAD11 | SEA

2 | an hour ago

Because the NBA has to approve relocations. In 2013 a Seattle group had a deal to buy and move the Kings but the NBA rejected the relocation.

cool-clam-clan

1 | 3 hours ago

What’s money to the Saudi’s.

Elegant_Honey-63

1 | 3 hours ago

Exactly, it’s less about the franchise itself and more about access to a shared revenue system that’s already very profitable for current owners

ForgotMyPassword1989 | Supersonics

75 | 3 hours ago

They are paying for what the team is “worth” and then a massive fee on top of it

LifeguardStatus7649

13 | 3 hours ago

Gotta be “worth” + a multiple of earnings

Yayareasports | Warriors

7 | 3 hours ago

If someone is willing to pay that much for it in a market, that’s how much it’s worth - by definition

nicidob | Warriors

10 | 3 hours ago

Eh it’s probably more like the price you can sell it to someone else– the second highest price in an auction. Vickery.

Zigxy | Pacers Bandwagon

3 | an hour ago

Large business tend to have a calculable “fair value” which is based on factors such as projected revenue/profit/growth…etc

These projections can vary but at some point the amount paid is beyond the consensus range.

And the truth is that becoming an NBA owner carries a certain prestige and excitement that other “smarter,” better-valued investment won’t. For the right person/group, this can make them willing to pay a premium.

This is similar to news businesses which tend to be overvalued form a revenue/profit/growth point of view, but carry intangible benefits like political/social influence.

ObviousAnswerGuy | NYK

1 | 8 minutes ago

yes, and add in the fact that professional sports franchises are extremely limited , and rarely available to buy, and the price can go up a lot.

10001110101balls

2 | 3 hours ago

There are definitely limits to this though, which is why worth is often defined as resale value. Any asset can be purchased for higher than its resale value. Whether or not the owner values their asset based on its resale value is more of a qualitative matter.

For the asking price, it is likely that a group of owners will submit the winning bid, for which it is much more likely that some of them will be financially motivated by future resale value.

Yayareasports | Warriors

1 | an hour ago

If there are multiple bids at or near a $ threshold, then that’s inherently its resale value.

You could try to argue that values are inflated because profits and revenue don’t justify it, but there’s a premium because of the prestige of owning one of the top sports teams in the world, of which there are only so many.

That allure is baked in as part of its value/worth.

mattw08

1 | an hour ago

It’s insane since doesn’t even include an arena.

stonecutter7

52 | 3 hours ago

Is there a reserve? Im gonna bid $2k, just in case all the wealthy types get scared off and no one else bids.

zerefyagami | Heat

14 | 3 hours ago

wait for me bro, my payday is next week

Kwilly462 | Nets

43 | 3 hours ago

So… Are there any Las Vegas residents here (or people from Vegas) that will be fans of the NBA team as soon as they’re established?

Driveshaft48 | Knicks

75 | 3 hours ago

Well there is precedent with the golden knights in hockey

They have 100% attendance every game

If youre a prospective nba owner that should give you some confidence

ImpossibleCategory | Raptors

37 | 3 hours ago

besides their nhl team that people have mentioned already, the aces were also the first wnba team in history to sell out every home game

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

5 | 2 hours ago

Some people overlook the Aces because the WNBA has a smaller fanbase but WNBA fans in Vegas love our Aces. They’ve done a great job of getting the community involved and invested.

Salty_Wedding3960

22 | 3 hours ago

Vegas is a well-established Lakers market. The Lakers-LV games are gonna be Laker homes games lol.

ayeno

32 | 3 hours ago

A lot of Lakers road games are Laker home games though

Salty_Wedding3960

6 | 3 hours ago

30% of Vegas on any given weekend are people visiting from SoCal, so it would be a little bit different than other Lakers road games lol

LouieM13 | NYK

4 | 3 hours ago

Lakers-Magic game recently was basically a Lakers home game

Nuclearsunburn | Heat

1 | 6 minutes ago

Got that home cooking even

DueLearner

1 | 2 hours ago

I remember two years ago going to a Cavs game where we played the Lakers. It was almost a perfect ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ split of Lakers Jerseys to Cavs jerseys. Strangest game I’ve been to. Cavs won it lol.

Alexcox95 | Heat

1 | 2 hours ago

Pretty much all of them except places like Boston

ayeno

18 | 3 hours ago

They are hoping it to be like the Vegas Knights situation

j1h15233 | HOU

13 | 2 hours ago

The Vegas NBA team won’t be anywhere close to being good that fast though

ThaPhantom07 | Suns

5 | 3 hours ago

I will always be Suns first as I have been watching them for over 20 years now but I would definitely follow a Vegas team since I’ve wanted one here since I was a kid. I was stoked when the Aces came here and now if this pans out NBA will be too.

beefyboibrandon | Spurs

5 | 3 hours ago

Absolutely, every team that is here has become my primary team

Someonediffernt | PHO

4 | 3 hours ago

2 random questions:

Will you still root for the spurs when they dont play LV or will you be all in on LV?
Does it feel different when a team moves in like the Raiders vs a new homegrown team like the Knights?

beefyboibrandon | Spurs

4 | 2 hours ago

It’ll be like how it is in hockey, Vegas is always the team but western conference finals give me VGK/Stars so Vegas/Spurs.

This team will be treated just like how the Knights are, Vegas team built for Las Vegans, no baggage attached. Don’t get me wrong, the Raiders are my team and I’m extremely excited about the A’s but yes clearly I see the baggage with those two. This team is clean out of the gates.

just_one_random_guy | Lakers

1 | 21 minutes ago

Out of curiosity what were your previous fandoms for each sport before Vegas got (or eventually will get) teams? Bit unrelated but how does Vegas generally feel about the incoming A’s?

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

2 | 2 hours ago

Hell yeah! I rock the Sonics flair because my wife is from Seattle but I’m a Vegas fan through and through with Aces and UNLV football season tickets. I’m all in.

FranklySafeAI

1 | 3 hours ago

I think it’s funny no one has actually replied and said yes…..

MarcTheCreator | Raptors

1 | 38 minutes ago

Yeah I probably will be. I’m not gonna drop the Raptors entirely though, I feel conflicted. At least I didnt have a deep seated NHL fandom when the Golden Knights came to town, that made me immediately going all in quite a bit easier.

SharpMind94 | Cavaliers

29 | 3 hours ago

Tbh, if I was bidding. I’d want to know who will be in my division and what that looks like.

DueLearner

28 | 2 hours ago

I’m 99% confident this is gonna be the divisions. From a travel / logistics standpoint this makes by far the most sense:

PNW/ NorCal Division:

Seattle SuperSonics
Portland Trailblazers
Sacramento Kings
Golden State Warriors

SoCal/Desert Division:

LA Lakers
LA Clippers
Las Vegas Team
Pheonix Suns

South Central Division:

Utah Jazz
Denver Nuggets
Oklahoma City Thunder
Memphis Grizzlies

Texas Division:

Dallas Mavericks
San Antonio Spurs
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Pelicans

South East Division:

Miami Heat
Orlando Magic
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Hornets

MidWest Division:

Minnesota Timberwolves
Milwaukee Bucks
Chicago Bulls
Indiana Pacers

Great Lakes (+ Washington) Division:

Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards

North East Division:

Philidelphia 76ers
NY Knicks
Brooklyn Nets
Boston Celtics

DiscreteBee | Raptors

16 | an hour ago

This is always where I end up too. There’s a couple ways to break up the northeast and in this case Washington is the odd one out, but getting Ohio and Michigan together in a division is worth it.

DueLearner

5 | an hour ago

Agreed. As far as keeping rivalries intact the Midwest division lines up with Football rivalries pretty damn well.

Michigan/Ohio together makes sense. There’s still a bit of a natural rivalry between Toronto and Cleveland because of the LeBronto era. No matter how you slice it, the Wizards just don’t make sense anywhere else.

Briggity_Brak | Tampa Bay Raptors

2 | an hour ago

Hell nah. Fuck these NFL mini-divisions. Just take this as an opportunity to finally remove divisions entirely since they don’t fucking matter at all in the NBA anyway.

ObviousAnswerGuy | NYK

1 | 5 minutes ago

it’s a travel issue. That’s the reason divisions exist. If they played every team the same amount of times the amount of travel every team needed to do would be much greater.

WhyDoBugsExist | Spurs

2 | 42 minutes ago

Born in San antonio, grew up in San fran, working in seattle, while being married to a LA woman.

Send Help

Rusty-Shackleford23 | Kings

2 | 42 minutes ago

This makes the most sense but breaking up the California teams just feels wrong lol

just_one_random_guy | Lakers

1 | 23 minutes ago

It’d be a bit weird not having a SF-based team not in a division with an LA-based team, especially when in football and baseball those are strong rivalries by comparison

Comfortable-Key-1930

1 | 19 minutes ago

Las vegas team is a pretty brave name suggestion

Infernous-NS | Spurs

1 | 8 minutes ago

Idk I see at least the Mavericks and the Grizzlies getting swapped. I’d also be surprised if the Warriors and Lakers didn’t stay in the same division.

ouchifell | Knicks

-2 | an hour ago

Would probably swap Memphis with Minnesota since the former is further East

DrKoooolAid | Timberwolves

4 | an hour ago

While Memphis is further East, they are much closer to a bunch of West teams. Wolves are crazy far from all of them while being much closer to many East teams.

tolzan | Nuggets

1 | an hour ago

Memphis is closer teams in the west though

tolzan | Nuggets

8 | 2 hours ago

Since when have divisions mattered in the NBA?

Briggity_Brak | Tampa Bay Raptors

2 | an hour ago

Yeah, this is a great opportunity to finally just delete divisions entirely.

Hold_the_mic | Supersonics

1 | 24 minutes ago

Double round robin, one at home, one away, top 16 teams make the playoffs

tcookc | Spurs

1 | 16 minutes ago

that would be cool but the travel expenses would be way more

Trick_Meringue_5622 | Pistons

1 | 18 minutes ago

Division win record is still used as a tiebreaker and might actually have an impact on seeding this year

tolzan | Nuggets

1 | 8 minutes ago

And that would impact an ownership group looking for an NBA franchise?

Trick_Meringue_5622 | Pistons

1 | 7 minutes ago

No, I’m just saying they still have some impact on the game

ObviousAnswerGuy | NYK

1 | 4 minutes ago

they matter for travel purposes. The sole reason they play everyone in their “division” more, is so they don’t have to travel as far/much.

Alarmed-Cucumber-858 | San Diego Clippers

0 | an hour ago

I was about to say this

Division doesn’t matter, this isn’t college or the NFL

VolleyVoldemort | San Diego Rockets

1 | 23 minutes ago

Or more importantly baseball

No_Improvement_477 | Bucks

29 | 3 hours ago

It’s crazy that during my lifetime that Herb Kohl bought the Milwaukee Bucks for $18 Million today they are worth 4.5 Billion.

The Bucks are worth 250x more today then in 1985.

MeMeRevieweR_23 | West

18 | 3 hours ago

Well if he waited a year instead and bought Microsoft stock in 1986, it would be worth 60 Billion dollars today

livefreeordont | 76ers

2 | an hour ago

What if he bought Sears stock

welmoe | Lakers

3 | 3 hours ago

It’s hard for a sports team to not appreciate in value.

Nugur

5 | 2 hours ago

Hindsight though.

NBA was about to be bankrupt but got bailed out by bird and magic

Buying a team at that time period was not guaranteed higher value later on

YoungGambinoMcKobe | Raptors

17 | 3 hours ago

There will be plenty of American group bids, but I imagine some middle eastern players will absolutely throw their hat in the ring. Will be very interesting to see who wins out.

stogie_t | Thunder

1 | 18 minutes ago

Yea PE firms absolutely love sports teams right now thanks to the cash flows and AI buffer.

They aren’t going to struggle to find bidders.

Admirable_Let_2961

16 | 3 hours ago

Isn’t this because some teams own their infrastructure? For example Boston was $6b ish but no stadium

tore_a_bore_a | Warriors

10 | 3 hours ago

True, Warriors own Chase, Knicks own MSG, but Lakers is just only team and sold for $10 billion valuation

j1h15233 | HOU

9 | 2 hours ago

The Knicks do not own MSG, Dolan does. He could sell the team and keep the arena

tore_a_bore_a | Warriors

6 | 2 hours ago

Oh true, just Dolan that does both and I got confused

shid3ater | Suns

8 | 3 hours ago

Can’t wait for 2 more tanking teams

livefreeordont | 76ers

3 | an hour ago

NBA is more talented than ever so this gives room for guys like Cam Thomas, Jalen Green, and Jaylin Williams to be franchise players /s

chrysanthemum_beer

1 | 2 hours ago

Dilution of the NBA talent continues.

not-who-you-think | Supersonics

1 | an hour ago

Looking at the Kraken, I think the Sonics are going to try to win for the first few years. It won’t be the shortest path to a title, but I think they are going to want to peg those ticket prices as high as they can.

However, I think the return of the Sonics presents a different opportunity than trying to create a fanbase for a new sport, so I am holding out hope that they’ll say, fuck it, we’re gonna sell out no matter what, let’s go young and try to build a long-term contender.

Few_Citron_5140

6 | 3 hours ago

Those owners are going to make that revenue back so quick in those cities especially Vegas

ForgotMyPassword1989 | Supersonics

19 | 3 hours ago

Not really. Looking at revenue sharing per team for 2025 it would take 20-30 years (or longer I’m sure it’s complicated) to get $7B to these teams. The real value I guess is that the franchise may keep appreciating in value with time

ayeno

1 | 3 hours ago

Those cities don’t buy or pay for the team, the team owner pays the fee.

Colorapt0r | Bucks

4 | 3 hours ago

Ok? That’s not what they said at all

ayeno

3 | 3 hours ago

Because they edited after I posted. That person originally said the cities were going to make that revenue back quick.

Splittinghairs7 | Gran Destino

3 | 3 hours ago

Inflation in 2-3 years when expansion happens will cause values to skyrocket even more.

cindad83 | Pistons

3 | 3 hours ago

This fee is reflective of basically the last two US cities that will get a team. After that the fees go much higher because only Mexico City,Monterrey, and Montreal will be available im North America. Those will be essentially buying a ‘country’ market.

After that its Europe. Teams will be a combination of expansion teams or existing teams that pay an entry fee but discounted because they being am existing fanbase. So Barcelona can join cheaper than London which doesn’t have an established basketball branded team. Or Berlin will be more expensive than say Tel Avia Maccabi

Just_Drawing8668 | Celtics

3 | 2 hours ago

It’s a mistake to think of the value of these teams purely in terms of revenue. When you are at 10 or 11 digit numbers, you have to also weigh what other financial assets there are to put the money in. You can’t keep that kind of money in a bank account. There is a supply and demand relationship for large assets. Also dynamics such as international currency exchange rates and interest rates will have significant impacts on the supply of financing.

Since it’s not a public exchange, there is no simple way to mark to market these assets. However, as an example, musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. It was half that amount in 2018.

Then it dropped to $10 billion in 2023 and is now back to 44 billion. Clearly the revenue did not move around this much.

sylviaplath6667 | Bulls

3 | an hour ago

Bulls would easily clear 7 billion the day Jerry croaks

Iwtfyatt

2 | 2 hours ago

If 80k of us get together each with 100k we can own an nba team. I think we can do this

StrategyTop7612 | Clippers

1 | 2 hours ago

Light work

ownage516 | Knicks

1 | 40 minutes ago

I say we all pool our money together and build this team solely on upvotes

PM_ME_UR_TESTIMONIES | Kings

1 | 5 minutes ago

How much would each member of r/nba need to chip in to make a bid?

sovereignlogik

-9 | 3 hours ago

Another expansion circlejerk…

Yay 🫩

ForgotMyPassword1989 | Supersonics

9 | 3 hours ago

“another expansion”? There hasn’t been one in 22 years

sovereignlogik

-5 | 3 hours ago

You didn’t understand

[Akabas] Bids to buy NBA expansion franchises in Vegas and Seattle are expected to be in the \(7-10 billion range, per Charania Sportico values only three NBA franchises at more than \)7 billion — the Warriors, Lakers and Knicks — with the average team worth $5.5 billion.