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In 2022, Oak View Group purchased land near The Strip for the purposes of building a privately funded, $10 billion casino resort that’ll include a $1 billion, 20,000-seat arena built to NBA specifications. OVG CEO Tim Leiweke stated this summer that construction is expected to start without a commitment from a professional franchise. It’ll be similar to the approach with OVG’s Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, which completed a $1.15 billion renovation in 2021. Still, that doesn’t mean the company is oblivious to what doors a new arena in Las Vegas may open. “There’s a lot of people that I know of that want to buy an NBA franchise if one becomes available in Las Vegas,” Leiweke said last year. “I’m convinced there will be people that will step up if the NBA decides to expand and chase a franchise. But what they need is the certainty of an arena. You can’t have a question mark.”
The plan to bring an NBA team to Las Vegas is becoming a bit clearer. Speaking at a Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance event last week, Tim Leiweke, CEO of investment firm Oak View Group, laid out his vision for a $10 billion campus that would also include a 20,000 seat arena along with a resort and casino.
Leiweke’s strategy of building an arena before a league expands into that city, worked in Seattle. He says that’s his plan in Las Vegas as well. He hopes to break ground on this project sometime in 2024.
Las Vegas group building NBA-ready arena
CEO of Oak View Group Tim Leiweke announced Wednesday during an interview with CNBC that his group has purchased 25 acres of land in Las Vegas to build a $3 billion sports and entertainment district that will include a 20,000-seat arena. With his announcement, he made it clear that if the NBA ever wanted to have a franchise in Sin City, the new venue could serve as its home.
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“The arena will be world-class,” he said. “We’re prepared to spend about a billion dollars on building the new arena. It will be for music, it’ll be for sports, it’ll be for cultural activities, and should the NBA decide to come—and by the way there’s no certainty or no guarantees that the NBA is ever coming to Vegas but should they come—we certainly will be NBA-ready and make sure that we hit all of their standards.”
Some around the league, though, have wondered about a potential down-the-road option that does not yet exist. The group heading expansion efforts in Seattle features the longtime sports executive Tim Leiweke, who brought Ujiri to Toronto for the 2013-14 season.
The ownership group that applied to bring the NHL to Seattle is optimistic as it begins a season-ticket drive Thursday. It is also leaving the door open for another feat: bringing an NBA franchise back to the city. "The answer is absolutely," investment banker David Bonderman told ESPN. "If there is a franchise to be had from the NBA, we want to be up there fighting for it for Seattle." Bonderman joins longtime sports executive Tim Leiweke and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer as leads for the Oak View Group, which is hoping to found the NHL's 32nd team. Earlier this month, the OVG submitted paperwork and a $10 million down payment to the league. The NHL is likely to accept the bid pending the results of the season-ticket drive.
Dressed in a dark suit and sporting a wide smile, Tim Leiweke — the former AEG exec and longtime L.A. sports power player — pressed pen to paper and delivered a message Seattle fans have been craving. “Ten years ago, you had your heart ripped out,” Leiweke said. “We’re going to get you a team.”
David Aldridge: The vote puts the Seattle city government squarely behind OVG, headed by longtime sports executive/AEG CEO Tim Leiweke & entertainment manager/mogul Irving Azoff, instead of billionaire Chris Hansen, who has sought to build an arena in the South Downtown section of the city.
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Dolan’s interest in Toronto executive Masai Ujiri is real, not to mention the preferred choice of the folks inside the NBA’s league offices who want nothing more than this Knicks machine to run smoothly one day. There’s already a built-in connection as well: Tim Leiweke, the former CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment group who hired Ujiri as Toronto’s general manager in 2013, is serving as a Knicks consultant. He’s the CEO of the sports and entertainment consulting firm, the Oak View Group, as well as a partner of Irving Azoff, the longtime friend of Dolan’s who played a significant role in bringing Jackson to the Knicks.
Marc Stein: In Knicks news: League sources say former Raptors exec Tim Leiweke is poised to help them as an advisor in wake of Phil Jackson's exit.
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