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Adam Silver: Blazers need new arena
Asked about the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers by the Paul G. Allen estate, initiated in May, Silver said that, "It is our preference that that team remains in Portland. We've had great success in Portland over the years." Notably, Silver said that Portland, "likely needs a new arena, so that will be part of the challenge for any new ownership group coming in." The Blazers have played in Moda Center since 1995, making it one of the league's oldest arenas that has not undergone substantial renovations. Moda Center upgrades begun with the aim of completion before hosting the NCAA Division I women's basketball Final Four in 2030, but are on pause during the sale process, per the Rose Garden Report.
Although that conversation hasn't tangibly moved closer to potentially awarding teams, Silver described the latest update as "a significant step." "We're now engaging in this in-depth analysis, something we weren't prepared to do before," Silver said. "But beyond that, as I said, it's really day one of that analysis. In terms of price, potential timeline -- too early to say. And again, I think that also assumes the outcome of this analysis. It is truly a complicated issue."
In the wake of a recent federal investigation into former Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley on allegations of gambling related to NBA games and prop bets, Silver said that legalized sports gambling was still preferable to the alternative. "If my choice were legalized sports betting vs. illegal sports betting, I still think a legalized structure is better," Silver said. "What we're seeing now in some of the investigations you're referencing is operational data, which causes in many cases, betting companies or independent agencies who are overseeing this betting activity to raise flags and say what's happening here? "I think the issue is if you didn't have that legalized structure, what would otherwise be going on that went undetected?"
Silver said the league was even using artificial intelligence in its search for clues about why the injury happened so often this season. "I'm hopeful that by looking at more data, by looking at patterns, this is one area where AI -- people are talking about how that's going to transform so many areas -- the ability with AI to ingest all video of every game a player's played in to see if you can detect some pattern that we didn't realize that leads to an Achilles injury," Silver said. "We're taking it very seriously."
The commissioner then turned his attention to television ratings, comparing the current ratings to previous eras. Silver noted that in terms of viewership, the league is both better and worse now than it was in bygone eras. “People compare us to 20 years ago,” Silver said. “But these Games 1 and 2, so far, as the highest-rated programs in May and June, so far, on television. And if something beats us, it will be another sports program. Back 20 years ago, we often didn’t win the night when the Finals were on. But the absolute rating is lower now.”
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The league has had various iterations of the trophy logo throughout its history. But it stopped using them in 2014 amid concerns about, among other things, player safety when there were claims of “slipperiness” on the courts, Silver said. The Cleveland Cavaliers featured a small version of the trophy near a corner of the court in 2017, and the 2020 bubble finals in Orlando, Fla., had a massive finals logo that was sponsored by YouTube. As Silver sees it, the fans and media members who complained about a lack of distinctness to the modern-day finals court have a valid point. “Maybe there’s a way around it,” he told a small group of reporters during an NBA Cares charity event at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought all that much about it until I (saw) it (on social media). I’m nostalgic, as well, for certain things. And also, I think for a media-driven culture, whether it’s people watching live or seeing those images on social media, it’s nice when you’re looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that trophy logo or some other indication that it’s a special event. So, we’ll look at it.”
Silver, speaking at his annual news conference ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, said he hopes to "take the temperature of the room" regarding expansion at the July meeting and believes there is enough interest among the owners to take the next steps in the process. "There's been no lack of interest," Silver said. "I essentially have said to people from several different cities, 'We're just not engaging in that process right now.' I want to be fair to everyone. So I don't want to have meetings with some and not others. So if we were to say yes, we're now going to move into a more formal exploratory phase, we would take those meetings and in addition likely we would engage with outside advisors who would look at markets, look at economic opportunities and media opportunities, et cetera."
In Tuesday’s interview, Silver mentioned concerns about the dilution of talent and the economic impacts of potentially adding two teams, as he has in the past. He also said the “precise timing” of how expansion could happen still needs to be worked on. But he did make note again of the two markets regularly mentioned when expansion talk comes up. “Look, obviously, I know there’s tremendous interest in Seattle. I know there’s tremendous interest in Las Vegas and several other cities as well, whether I’ve read about the interest or have heard indirectly from others,” Silver said. “Just to be clear, we haven’t begun any sort of process. So even to extent cities have reached out we said, ‘Thank you for your interest, but we’re not ready to take meetings yet and have more in depth discussions.’ We will have that opportunity early summer again to talk to all the different ownership groups in the NBA and get a sense.”
After that meeting, the NBA would look to get a sense of what markets might be interested in landing an expansion franchise. “Obviously I know there’s tremendous interest in Seattle, I know there’s tremendous interest in Las Vegas and several other cities as well,” Silver said. Silver made it clear that the league had not begun any formal expansion talks.
Silver told Myer that rights fees have taken a “25% hit collectively; for some teams it’s around a 50% reduction.” While noting that “I think we’ll work through that,” he added that “two-thirds of the NBA teams are operating with RSNs that just came out of bankruptcy [Main Street Sports Group] or some that were completely defunct [AT&T SportsNet].” “I … hate to make it so negative, but [local game broadcasts] are caught in legacy media, which is rapidly declining,” Silver said. “And our young fans, in particular, we used to talk about cord-cutters; they’re really cord-nevers. It’s not part of their lives to buy cable… And so the local situation by definition will then get even worse.”
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Silver wants direct contact with the NBA’s European pipeline. “I assume this is one of the highest interests of the NBA,” said Marco Baldi, vice president and chief executive officer for Alba Berlin, a German EuroLeague club that could be a candidate for Silver’s European league and runs an expansive youth academy. “Players who have the time to mature will be of great benefit … and finding an ecosystem that, let’s say, guarantees that the most players with the potential end up at their potential, is a common task that cannot be solved by the NBA alone,” Baldi said. “So the ideal thought is to collaborate on this.”
The sense from Silver’s comments was that he’d like to have the league’s potential national streaming RSN figured out before granting expansion teams — whether it’s to Seattle, Las Vegas or Mexico City. At this week’s BOG meetings, Silver said President of Global Content & Media Distribution Bill Koenig delivered a presentation on the streaming RSN, and sources said the league does not intend to rush the streaming platform. Instead, it will continue negotiating for the best deal, whether that’s with Amazon, YouTube, Apple, ESPN+ or some other streaming service, believing the value of local broadcasts remain prohibitive.
There are no deals yet between the NBA and, well, anyone, two high-placed league officials told The Athletic. Silver is, essentially, looking for permission from his bosses (the NBA’s 30 owners) to move forward in making a new league happen. “It’s early days,” Silver said Thursday. “So literally nothing has been agreed upon yet. We’re still in the modeling, exploratory stage. One thing I know is important is we want to honor the tradition of European sport.”
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