Las Vegas could become an even bigger sports oasis in the middle of the desert if one of the biggest sports stars in the world has his way.
Vegas' journey to becoming a sports mecca is fairly new. The modern push for sports in the city was jumpstarted in 2016 when the National Hockey League awarded the city the expansion Vegas Golden Knights franchise.
The Golden Knights became the first major league professional sports team to ever play in the Las Vegas Valley when the 2017-2018 NHL season began.
Things moved quickly after that when in 2017, NFL team owners voted nearly unanimously to relocate the Raiders, who were playing in Oakland at the time, to Las Vegas, which promised to put in $750 million build a brand new, state of the art stadium in return.
The Raiders played their first game at Allegiant Stadium in 2020.
Then in 2018, the WNBA's San Antonio Stars franchise relocated to Las Vegas and became the Aces.
Sin City suddenly went from a town with no professional sports teams to at least three in just a couple of years.
Now NBA superstar LeBron James could be the lynchpin behind the next wave of sports franchises to call Las Vegas home.
Red Sox, Liverpool, Lebron, and Las Vegas?
Fenway Sports Group (FSG), a sports ownership group that includes James, is a leading contender to land an NBA Franchise as the league is looking to expand in Seattle and Las Vegas, according to "The Bill Simmons Podcast."
"The NBA is looking at this going ‘We can add these huge expansion (revenues),’” Simmons said while indicating his sources told him that Vegas was in-line for an expansion team. “I’m just saying the Vegas thing, I would watch that. I think it’s officially real — LeBron is definitely going to be involved in that.”
Meanwhile, an NBA spokesperson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that "there is no truth" to Simmons' speculation.
James joined Fenway Sports Group as a partner in March 2021.
FSG is one of the largest sports ownership companies in the world with ownership stakes in the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool Football Club, Roush Fenway Racing.
NBA rules prevent current players from owning portions of the NBA or WNBA, so James may have to wait until retirement if he wants to be a part of the Vegas franchise.
Where Could the NBA Go on the Las Vegas Strip?
The NBA isn't the only sports league that could make Las Vegas home in the near future.
Major League Baseball has been dangling Las Vegas over the heads of politicians in Oakland who are playing hardball over funding for a new stadium.
MLB is playing hardball with the understanding that the city of Oakland losing two franchises to the desert in such a short period of time could be a big blow to civic pride.
Any new sports franchise will have to discuss where the team will play and whether a new facility needs to be built.
A potential Vegas NBA franchise could play at the T-Mobile Arena on the southern part of the Strip where the Golden Knights currently play. The team could also play on the north Strip at former NBA player Jackie Robinson's arena and hotel project which recently had a multibillion-dollar funding package approved.
The $4.7 billion plan calls for an arena with a retractable roof, two luxury hotels, a convention center, a movie theater, and even a water park. That arena could tilt the balance of power on the Strip from the south, where Allegiant Stadium, MGM's (MGM) T-Mobile Arena and many of Caesars (CZR) resort hotels are concentrated, to the north where there is less competition from big venues.
Or there could be other stadium plans in the works for those franchises, but the bottom line is that Vegas is hot right now when it comes to sports and it could get even hotter if LeBron and MLB are interested in the city.
