Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
The Marc Lasry-Steve Apostolopoulos group that bid roughly 9B-to-9.5B for a Las Vegas NBA franchise has effectively dropped out of the expansion process, sources told SBJ on Friday, after informing the league that its desired price tag of $10B-plus was too high. According to multiple sources, the league had informed all bidders that the cost of the franchise would be rising to the $10B figure or above, and the Lasry-Apostolopoulos group responded by saying they weren’t padding their offer.
The development leaves just two bidders in play for the team: the Nancy Walton Laurie-Bill Laurie-Egon Durban conglomerate and the Bill Foley-Jerry Colangelo group. Sources close to one of the groups believe the NBA wants a bid closer to $11B –- plus about a $2B commitment to build a new arena -- and industry insiders told SBJ that the liquidity behind the Walton-Laurie-Durban bid makes them the front-runner.
Chris Haynes: Sources: Ownership group of Marc Lasry (former Bucks co-owner) & Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos remain in play for Las Vegas NBA Expansion bid. I’m also told Kenny Smith from “Inside The NBA” is part of the ownership group and has raised 20 percent of the bid.
As Silver mentioned, there is still discussion among current owners and the bid groups about the best place for a new arena. A vote on the three groups bidding on Las Vegas -- Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie; Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry; and Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo -- could come soon, sources told Charania. The runner-up groups could then pivot to Seattle, where Kraken owner Samantha Holloway's group appears to be in pole position, with a valuation sources with knowledge of the process currently estimate to be around $6 billion.
Shams Charania: ESPN Sources: The NBA is expected to select the winning bid for owner of the Las Vegas expansion team in the very near future, with a price of at least $12-13 billion for the franchise and new arena among three finalist groups – Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie; Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry; Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo.
Advertisement
Marc Lasry: “I think COVID, what it did was, it could either split apart a team or it brings everybody together. Bud did a great job of keeping everybody together. We talked about it. Look, ‘We need to do this. We’re going to try to do team dinners, we’re going to try to do all these different things so the team could feel we’re all in this together.’ I think that ended up working well. I think Bud did a great job, but I also think the players understood what it meant and the players bought into it.“
The bidding for NBA Europe franchises ended on Tuesday, with sources saying a few of the various offers are from current EuroLeague teams, former Bucks owner Marc Lasry and existing soccer clubs hoping to launch first-time basketball franchises. Those sources indicated many of the undisclosed bids exceeded the NBA’s preferred range of $500M to $1B and that ownership groups from Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Istanbul, London, Lyon, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris and Rome all are in the running.
It is unknown which of those markets Lasry -- who sold the Bucks in 2023 -- is pursuing. But he was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, moved to the U.S. at the age of 7 and, according to sources, is likely not the only former NBA owner to bid for a franchise. Lasry was unavailable for comment.
Other notable people involved in groups include Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, who announced his bid officially on Monday, and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry. NBA superstar and part-time Las Vegas resident Shaquille O’Neal is also interested in being part of an ownership group, according to his Las Vegas-based business manager Perry Rogers. Rogers said they’ve had conversations with various ownership groups.
The stage has expanded to the NBA. Korean college basketball is receiving global attention. The Asian University Basketball League (AUBL) announced on the 10th that it has completed a Series A funding round with participation from global investors. AUBL views South Korea as one of its core strategic markets and plans to actively promote league operations and community expansion. AUBL is a pan-Asian university sports league launched with the goal of strengthening competitiveness and globalizing Asian college basketball. The 2026 season will be a pivotal year for league expansion, with the opening match and first home-and-away games scheduled to be held in South Korea. This investment round was led by Blue Pool Capital, the family office of Joe Tsai, co-founder of Alibaba and owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Other investors included Avenue Capital Group, led by Marc Lasry, former co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks; Bolt Ventures, co-owned by David Blitzer, co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers; Nan Fung Group, a Hong Kong conglomerate; HSG (formerly Sequoia China), a venture capital firm; and Yao Ming, a Chinese basketball legend.
Advertisement
Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam told ESPN this setup has worked well since Haslam purchased a 25% stake in the team from Marc Lasry in 2023. "The Jimmy partnership is unbelievably good," Edens said. "And that's really, really important because ... the likelihood is, just given the season we just had, the things we've got in front of us, we've got to make some hard decisions, and it'd be great to make hard decisions with somebody who you really like and trust." As Edens' term as controlling owner wanes, however, there are strong indications that Haslam's power within the organization is growing.
The Connecticut Sun ownership intends to present multiple options to the WNBA as it looks to salvage what would have been a record-breaking $325 million franchise sale, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN. The Mohegan tribe, which has owned the franchise since buying and relocating the Orlando Miracle in 2003, is seeking clarity on the league's desired path forward for the organization, sources said, after an agreement to sell the team to a group led by former Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca was met with resistance from the league office. After news broke of the deal's existence -- and Pagliuca's eventual plan to relocate the franchise to Boston -- a league statement emphasized that "relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams," and that cities that have already gone through the expansion process have priority over Boston, which did not submit an expansion bid in any of the three recent expansion rounds over the past three years. Among the Mohegan tribe's likely proposals to the league, according to sources: • A full franchise sale to Pagliuca's group. • A sale to a group headlined by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, who would move the team to Hartford, Connecticut. • Selling a minority stake in the organization. • Allowing the league to purchase the franchise for $325 million and relocate it from the WNBA's smallest market.
A source close to the ownership group says the tribe is frustrated and feels the league is presenting a one-path option: relocation of the team to a market of its choosing at a value of its choosing. The league, in recent weeks, offered to purchase the Sun for $250 million and not charge the buyer an additional relocation fee -- which would allow the league to facilitate a sale to one of its preferred expansion cities, according to sources. That offer was presented before Pagliuca's bid of $325 million was reported on Aug. 2, sources said.
The tribe had informed the league that it had reached a deal with Pagliuca to buy the team and presented a general executive summary with the terms of the agreement on July 2, sources said. The ownership group did not present a signed term sheet at that time, according to sources, per guidance from its investment firm, Allen & Co. While that deal did not specifically mention Boston, Pagliuca's intention would be to move the team there, pending WNBA board of governors approval, as early as the 2027 season, according to sources. Pagliuca has also committed to building a $100 million practice facility.