By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — After VGK owner Bill Foley entered the Las Vegas NBA expansion sweepstakes with a bid last month, former Phoenix Suns owners and ex-USA Basketball head Jerry Colangelo is leading a rival expansion group to launch a new team in Las Vegas called the Las Vegas Jacks.
Colangelo’s news will get lots of chatter her in Las Vegas, which is hosting the NBA Summer League July 9-19 at Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus. The Colangelo-led USA Basketball, which oversaw the United States’ national men’s team, practiced in a gym next-door to Thomas and Mack. The 86-year-old Colangelo knows Las Vegas from those USA Basketball practices and exhibition games.
In 2017, LVSportsBiz.com interviewed Colangelo on the NBA expanding to Las Vegas and here was his comments at the time: “The NBA is a hot commodity right now. There’s great interest in ownership. I would bet at some point that the NBA coming to Las Vegas will become a reality.”
A Colangelo group includes former NBA player and coach Vinny Del Negro; media exec David Levy; finance exec Scott Colangelo; exec Jonathan Thomas and former NBA players and basketball analysts ay Williams. BTIG and U.S. Bank, supported by Global Leisure Partners, will serve as institutional financial partners, according to a press release.
“Basketball has become a global sport to levels never seen before,” Jerry Colangelo said in a business wire news release . “With the five top MVP vote-getters being all internationally born, the game is reaching unparalleled heights. My excitement for this project and for our Jacks’ vision is right up there in terms of my career. We all are committed and working as hard as we can to bring the league, owners and the fans, the best proposal and end product possible to Las Vegas.”
The Colangelo group has an an asset target of $12.5 billion to $13 billion, with $5 billion committed and another $3 billion formally indicated, the press release said.
The NBA is moving ahead to check out the Las Vegas and Seattle markets for potential expansion, but keep in mind the league also wants to create an NBA league in Europe. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has not set a timeline for expansion, but there is talk that an NBA team can launch in Las Vegas as early as 2028 — the same year the MLB A’s open their new stadium on the Strip.
Foley has committed to spending $300 million on improving T-Mobile Arena to host an NBA team, while another group said it has plans to build the “Diamond Arena” across from Mandalay Bay hotel-casino on the south end of the Strip for an NBA team.