Despite 75 years of existence, the NBA has not had a franchise based in Las Vegas. One of the most happening cities in the country does deserve its team. At least that’s what LeBron James has been conveying for a year now. With the Los Angeles Lakers star’s interest in owning a team in the “Sin City”, Brian Windhorst of ESPN even mentioned the price as $2,500,000,000 for doing the same. However, 17 years before LBJ did, Michael Jordan also expressed his desire to owing a Las Vegas-based NBA organization.
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Building an NBA franchise from scratch would be a nightmare of a task. However, if anybody could manage to do so successfully, it would be either of these two billionaires. Besides their flourishing business ventures, Bron and MJ have virtually won all the accolades that the NBA offers.
Thanks to their love for the game, with any of the two icons as an owner, we can expect a Las Vegas team to be triumphant.
“I’d love to own a franchise in Las Vegas”: Michael Jordan
Back in 2005, His Airness made an interview appearance with Cigar Aficionado and had a brief conversation with Marvin Shanken. During the interview, Marvin asked the Hall-Of-Famer about his opinions on a potential team in Las Vegas.
Revealing his interest in owning a team in Nevada, Jordan stated how economically profitable the venture could be. The former 5-time Most Valuable Player said:
“I’d love to own a franchise in Las Vegas. But who wouldn’t? The opportunity it provides just from being in Las Vegas creates a great economic situation. But it’s not just Michael Jordan who would find that attractive. You could find a lot of other potential owners or investors who’d like to own a team in Las Vegas. Will it happen? I don’t know.”
NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, and NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights have been profitable and increasing their worth year by year. Formula 1 also tapped into the potential of the sporting interest of Las Vegas by adding a race to their busy calendar.
Franchises’ worth of other leagues in Las Vegas has skyrocketed in the past so many years. It’s about time Adam Silver makes a safe bet and decides to expand.
Is Jordan looking to sell the Hornets after 13 years?
Even though MJ never got a chance to own a Las Vegas team, he did purchase a major stake in the Charlotte-based team back in 2010 when the franchise was worth $275 million.
Of course, the team never really found success. Despite consistently finishing as one of the worst teams in the association, Michael managed to get the franchise’s worth to increase by as much as 6 times from when it was initially purchased.
13 years later, with the Hornet’s whopping net worth of $1.7 billion, rumors have it that the Black Cat is looking to see his stake in the franchise.
Is MJ aiming to sell the North Carolina-based organization to prepare a bid for a possible Las Vegas team? Well, we certainly do hope so.
