The post Adam Silver hints at three potential NBA expansion cities appeared first on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks beat out 28 other teams to reach the 2024 NBA Finals, and that number could grow in the near future.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told NBC Sports Boston Celtics Pregame Live The league confirmed ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, played at TD Garden on Sunday, that it would explore the possibility of expanding from its current 30 teams after finalizing new media rights deals.
“Before we can even consider expanding, we need to figure out what our long-term media relationship looks like, and we’re in the process of putting that deal together right now,” Silver told co-hosts Tom Giles, Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine. “It’s going to be a long-term deal. We’re not done yet, but we hope that it’s successful in terms of bringing in additional revenue for the league and the teams, and that it puts us in a position to consider expanding.”
The NBA’s current media rights deal expires after the 2024-25 season, but Silver said Thursday that the league is hoping to reach new long-term agreements in the “relatively near future.” According to The Wall Street Journal, the NBA is “close to signing” deals with NBC, ESPN and Amazon worth a combined total of about $76 billion over the next 11 years.
Silver argued it’s not a given the league would add more teams, but it would be a natural next step given the influx of money from potential media rights deals and the fact that the other two professional sports leagues, the NFL and NHL, already have 32 teams.
“We’re not set on expanding,” Silver said, “As I’ve said before, we have to consider the potential dilution of talent, but there’s a lot of great basketball being played around the world. I don’t think there’s any question that the league can sustain two more teams over time, and there’s interest in the market, so we’ll look at that as soon as the media deal is over.”
So which cities would be candidates to add an expansion team?
“There’s been some discussion about possibly returning to Seattle,” Silver admitted. “Las Vegas is definitely very interested in a team, maybe Mexico City at some point.”
“But frankly, a lot of other U.S. and Canadian cities have reached out to us as well and said they’re interested.”
Seattle and Las Vegas have long been rumored to be the NBA’s next expansion cities, but Silver has suggested on multiple occasions that the NBA is considering adding another international team beyond the Toronto Raptors. The league has played a number of regular-season games in Mexico City over the past few seasons, so Mexico City is likely the NBA’s next frontier after welcoming Seattle and Las Vegas.
Check out Silver’s full interview in the YouTube video below.
