NBA targets $5bn windfall with two expansion franchises

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is floating the idea of a US$2.5 billion price tag for two new expansion franchises, according to ESPN.

League commissioner Adam Silver had revealed on the eve of the 2020/21 season that the NBA had looked at the “economic and competitive impacts of expansion”, adding that it was the “manifest destiny of the league” to expand beyond 30 teams eventually.

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Silver acknowledged that while the NBA had been putting more efforts on expansion pre-coronavirus, adding more franchises was not “on the front burner”.

The NBA has already distributed US$30 million to each of its teams, which followed the North American basketball league’s move to raise its borrowing allowance from US$650 million to US$1.2 billion when the pandemic struck in March. The NBA is looking to extend the measures by more than two years until October 2023.

A US$2.5 billion expansion fee for each new team would likely appeal to existing franchises, given it would net them close to US$167 million apiece.

Exactly which cities would throw their hat into the ring to join the NBA is unclear, but Seattle and Las Vegas have been touted as potential locations.