Billionaire LeBron James says he would love to own part of an expansion NBA team in Las Vegas.
So would boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, and he told reporters he has been working on it. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal (hat tip BasketballNews.com).“I’ve been talking to certain individuals for the last six months,” Mayweather said Monday at the M Resort Spa Casino after announcing an exhibition bout against Japanese mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura. “That’s something I’ve been working on behind the scenes, but I’ve never came out and publicly talked about that with the media.
“Me and my team have been working behind the scenes with the NBA. I can’t say exactly where, but I’m working on getting a team.”
Mayweather is a Las Vegas resident. He was not talking about bringing a team to Seattle, Louisville, or anywhere else. He also has said he is worth more than $1 billion.
Mayweather is a regular courtside at NBA games and is close with a lot of players. Mayweather would be part of a group buying the team and it’s unclear who else would be putting up the billions in that group (and it is billions to buy into the NBA club). City officials and billionaires in multiple cities are talking to the league about expansion (or buying an existing team and moving it, an idea Silver and the league are not fond of), however the Oak View Group in Las Vegas are well connected and seem to be doing the right things.
While Seattle and Las Vegas are considered the frontrunners for expansion, NBA isn’t expanding anywhere in the near future. Adam Silver has made it clear the NBA is not talking about it right now. Maybe the league — meaning team owners — takes up expansion after the new CBA and television deal are settled, but even then the owners would need to be convinced that the boost in revenue and franchise values from the new teams would more than offset the money lost in TV/basketball revenue.
