Fenway Sports Group’s long-term plans for an NBA expansion franchise have been handed a boost.
Liverpool owners FSG have been open in their desire to add a franchise in the world’s premier basketball league and have their sights set on a team in Las Vegas.
A team in Vegas does not yet exist but is likely to be handed one of two expected expansion franchises when the NBA does give the green light to increasing the number of teams in the league from 30 to 32, dependent on passing a vote from current league teams.
The NBA hasn’t expanded since the 2004/2005 season when the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) came into the league. Prior to that the previous expansion had been in 1995 when the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies (now Memphis Grizzlies) arrived through a play to get a greater foothold in the Canadian market.
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FSG’s own vision for owning an NBA franchise has basketball icon, current Los Angeles Lakers star and FSG shareholder LeBron James helming the project as a team owner.
When FSG revealed that they were seeking to bring in fresh investment into Liverpool through a partial sale of their shareholding in a bid to recapitalise the business heading into a potentially costly rebuild, some suggestion was made that it was linked to plans to purchase an NBA franchise. That, well placed sources in the US have told the ECHO, is erroneous.
However, plans to get into the NBA are on the agenda and were given a potential boost over the weekend when it was announced that a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) had been reached between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the body that represents the interests of NBA players.
The agreement of a new CBA was one of the hurdles that the NBA had been seeking to clear before opening up the conversation around expansion seriously once again, with the CBA there to lay out the rights of players for matters relating to everything from minimal salary to the kind of endorsement deals that they are permitted to strike.
One of the main headlines from the new CBA was that active NBA players could now invest into NBA teams, although such a development likely wouldn’t be impactful for James or FSG given that, as reported by The Athletic, such investments would occur through an NBPA-selected private equity firm.
But in clearing one of the two major hurdles by the agreement of a CBA that brings labour peace to the league for the next seven years, it leaves just the agreement of a new broadcast deal to negotiate before attention turns to whether or not the league will increase the number of teams.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, however, stated last month, via ESPN, that there were “no discussions” that had been held over the subject recently and any such move could occur “in a few years.”
While the narrative around the move with FSG and Liverpool was, in some quarters, focused on the desire to free up capital for an NBA team, there is no urgency on that front from the Reds owners, nor was it the basis for them seeking a new ‘strategic partner’ to join them at Anfield.
James, 38, is still an NBA star and has intimated that he wants to continue playing long enough to be able to share the hardwood with his son, Bronny, who is eligible for the NBA Draft class of 2024.
Speaking to Forbes' Sports Money show 12 months ago, Liverpool chairman Tom Werner hinted at a future FSG move into the NBA involving James.
Werner said: "(Owning an NBA team) is certainly something that we would look at. We don't have a secret piece of paper that says, 'let's go acquire an NBA team'.
"LeBron James has made no secret that at some point he would like to be involved in ownership and he is a wonderful partner, so we'll see how that goes."
That plan may have moved a step closer following the agreement of the new NBA CBA, but there is nothing imminent on the horizon that would require FSG to rush to generate sizeable capital for.
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