Fenway Sports Group have not been secretive about their desire to acquire an NBA team to add to their sporting portfolio.
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner, FSG partner and Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, as well as Gerry Cardinale, the founder and managing partner of 11 per cent FSG stakeholders RedBird Capital Partners have all spoken on the potential of an NBA franchise being on the agenda for the Reds owners, who have Liverpool, the Red Sox baseball team, the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL ice hockey team and the NASCAR outfit RFK Racing among their stable of teams owned.
The NBA seems a good fit for FSG, who were linked with interest in the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this year. It is a profitable league with global appeal where the valuations of teams, in line with other major leagues, continue to rise. They have strong media deals in place and for FSG to be a part of that would give them new opportunities and allow them to further grow their rapidly accelerating business.
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Earlier this year NBA insider and founder of media and sports website The Ringer, Bill Simmons, stated that he had received information that FSG wanted to acquire an expansion franchise for the NBA, either in Seattle or Las Vegas. Since then the ECHO has learned that the location that FSG desire is Vegas, a city that is undergoing an enormous sporting boom and a flood of capital with the arrival of an NHL franchise in the Las Vegas Raiders and and NHL team in the Las Vegas Golden Knights, as well as landing a night race on the Formula One calendar from next season.
There has also been a large 25-acre piece of land acquired by Tim Leiweke's Oak View Group where a $3bn entertainment complex is to be developed, something that will include a state of the art 20,00-seater indoor arena, an arena that will be targeting an NBA tenant in the not too distant future.
Basketball icon LeBron James, 37, who is still playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, arrived on the scene with FSG in 2010 when they gave him equity in Liverpool for £4.6m in return for him being represented by their Fenway Sports Management arm. That £4.6m two per cent stake blossomed into more that £35m, something that was converted into one per cent of the total FSG empire when RedBird Capital acquired 11 per cent in a $750m deal back in March of 2021. James' stake in FSG stands at around the $90m mark at present.
FSG have had plans for James after his time on the court finishes and they have been deliberate in creating a lot of simpatico relationships. Nike, Liverpool's kit supplier who have a structured deal with the Reds that sees them kick back 20 per cent of the royalties on the sale of Liverpool branded merchandise to go along with the guaranteed £30m annual retainer, are the lifetime sports apparel partner of James and the Lakers star is working on a range of Liverpool merchandise to aid their lifestyle brand push.
Then there is SpringHill Entertainment, James and business partner and fellow FSG stakeholder Maverick Carter's production company, which received investment from FSG, Nike and RedBird last year, all three taking an ownership of the company that positions itself as a 'culture company', one that produced the Space Jam 2: A New Legacy movie, starring James, as well as the 'athlete empowerment brand' Uninterrupted, which produces popular online shows such as The Shop.
It is on The Shop, a conversation between often sports stars and musicians about their careers and lives, that James was quizzed on what his aspirations were after basketball. His answer all but confirmed the plan for FSG and James to take on a Vegas team at some stage, with James being owner and frontman of the venture.
"I want to own a team," James told Carter on The Shop. "I want to buy a team, for sure. I want the team in Vegas."
James is a wealthy man in his own right. From his on and off court earnings, James has amassed a fortune that is now more than $1bn, becoming the first active NBA player to achieve such a milestone. But for him to achieve that dream of owning a Vegas expansion team he will need help and investment, with the franchise set to fetch £2bn plus, money that would be then split between the original 32 teams as a way of appeasing team owners reluctant to lose a chunk of the media revenues to more rivals.
That help will almost certainly come from his relationship with FSG, with John Henry's company keen to make that happen and for James to be the star attraction, bringing them something that very other NBA franchises can offer. In a city famed for its glitz, glamour and high rolling, FSG are ready to roll the dice on James being the person to help them create a major NBA franchise to match the very best, one that could see an initial purchase price of £2bn, about what the Washington Wizards and Portland Trailblazers - mid-range teams, surge significantly, with James likely to bring added cachet that NBA executives would dearly love to see in an expansion team.
It may take time, though. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was quizzed on the possibility of the league expanding in time for 2024, an idea he emphatically rejected. Silver, however, did concede that the league would make it to 34 teams in the future. When that time arrives, with 2025 or 2026 a possibility, FSG and James will be first in the queue to try and land what will be a team with huge potential that will see the strength of the organisation grow as a result, financially.
In the interim, FSG will be looking for other growth opportunities, with European and South America not off the agenda for another football addition.
