Las Vegas has a lot of sports these days.
The National Basketball Association’s front office is exploring a very familiar market to league owners, Las Vegas. The league’s office is doing due diligence and evaluating a market hosts the league’s summer player development circuit, has hosted an All Star Game and award shows. The Utah Jazz franchise played 11 regular-season home games Las Vegas during the 1983-84 NBA season. There is a Women’s National Basketball Association team in town. So the league is extremely aware of the market. The NBA front office knows the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights franchise is well entrenched in the community and has been playing at a modern arena for a decade. The Vegas Golden Knights ownership also operates a minor league American Hockey League franchise in suburban Henderson The league knows the National Football League has a team in town and Las Vegas is a Super Bowl stop. Major League Baseball is arriving in town in 2028. Of course there is entertainment.
To help NBA owners decide that Las Vegas has all of the elements needed for a franchise, there is a group proposing to build a 21, 212-seat venue that will be constructed for basketball. The Las Vegas Diamond Arena would be located on the south Strip and would be within walking distance of around 20,000 hotel rooms. The arena proposal is just one of many in the city that could house a National Basketball Association franchise. There is a problem with all the proposals. The NBA has not decided if it will expand and if the league does expand who will own the franchise. The NBA expansion committee is also exploring the Seattle market, another market that the committee knows a lot about. Seattle lost its franchise in 2008 because the city had an inadequate arena. That has changed. The league might have two new teams by 2028.
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