Expansion is not on the league’s agenda at the moment.
The executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, Tamika Tremaglio, wants to see the NBA add teams. But, unless he has had a sudden change of mind, National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver has said no to the possibility of his business adding two more franchises. Why? Business considerations. At the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, Silver said there were no expansion talks with anyone and that expansion talks might happen after the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled. There are two other reasons for not expanding now. The NBA will be undergoing some fiscal changes in the next couple of years as a new media platform-TV deals have to be negotiated and then there is the matter of the collective bargaining talks with the players. Those two issues will be taking up a lot of Silver and his staff’s time. Once that is done, there seems to be one market ready to take on an expansion franchise, a business that might cost a local owner at least $2.5 billion. That is Seattle which meets all the requirements that Silver’s predecessor, the late David Stern laid out to be a successful business. A Seattle team would have government support, a good-sized local cable TV deal and Seattle has corporate support for a franchise. Finding a second city might be more difficult as there are flaws in the other markets that seek an NBA franchise.
Silver said in 2021 that money is a factor if his league decides to expand. “The most important considerations for us when we look at expansion is, will it ultimately grow the pie? I’ve said this many times before, we’re certainly not suggesting we’re locked at 30 teams.” The NBA might also have some franchise arena problems in some markets which also might derail expansion.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com