The NBA is stepping up its plans to launch a Las Vegas franchise with a bidding war breaking out for the rights to own the team expected to cost $12-$13 billion.
The league is set to choose the winning bid for ownership of the expansion team in the ‘very near future’, according to ESPN.
And the identities of the three final groups have emerged after league owners voted in March to start exploring the process of expansion by adding Las Vegas and Seattle franchises.
A formal approval process will be held by the end of December on the two expansion teams, with the 2028-29 season targeted to bring them into the league.
But who are the three parties involved in the big-money bidding war to take charge of the long-awaited venture into the lively Las Vegas market?
From the heiress to the Walmart fortune to the business man behind the USA ‘Redeem Team’ and those who already own sports teams, here’s a run-down of those in the mix.
The NBA is stepping up its plans to take an expansion team to Las Vegas in the near future
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league have three bidders fighting for the $13M team
Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband Bill, pictured with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, are among those trying to buy the Las Vegas franchise
Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie
Nancy Walton Laurie is the heiress to the Walmart fortune after her dad, James ‘Bud’ Walton, co-founded the retail giants.
She and her sister became billionaires overnight when their dad died in 1995 and they inherited his stakes in the company.
Per Forbes, she currently has a $17.2 billion net worth, and has a commercial real estate portfolio alongside her husband, Bill.
The pair were childhood friends who started dating in college, where Laurie was part of the Memphis Tigers basketball team that lost the 1973 NCAA Championship game to the UCLA Bruins.
The couple has bred horses from their 350-acre farm in Columbia, Missouri but now counts a home in Henderson, Nevada in the Las Vegas valley as their primary residence.
The couple owned NHL franchise the St Louis Blues from 1999 to 2011, and also failed in bids to buy the Denver Nuggets in 1999, the Vancouver Grizzlies in 2000 and Charlotte Hornets in 2001.
25 years later, they are now back in the market for NBA ownership in the place they currently call home.
Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry
Canadian billionaire Apostolopoulos has amassed a fortune via a range of companies, including real estate firm Triple Group of Companies, private equity firm Six Ventures and credit card company Caary.
He has made it well-known he wants to build a wide-ranging sports portfolio across various leagues, with the Las Vegas NBA team his latest target.
Steve Apostolopoulos (left) has been open with his desire to entire sports ownership
Marc Lasry was owner of the Milwaukee Bucks until 2023 and is partnering the bid
He discussed buying the Charlotte Hornets in 2023 before focusing his efforts on what was ultimately an unsuccessful bid to buy the Washington Commanders. He also failed to buy NHL franchise the Ottawa Senators.
He is now leading a bid that includes Marc Lasry as a partner, the former co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks from 2014 to 2023.
The Moroccan-American private equity manager launched a women’s sports investment fund shortly after selling his stake to the Haslam family, while also investing in The Bay Golf Club, a team in TGL, alongside NBA superstars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala.
Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo
Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo are teaming up for the bid that brings the most sports ownership experience.
Foley, chairman of Fidelity National Financial, Cannae Holdings and Black Knight Financial Services, has already brought major league sports to Las Vegas with success to go with it.
He was awarded the Las Vegas Golden Knights franchise by the NHL in June 2016, entered the league in 2017 with a promise to win the Stanley Cup within six years, then did just that in 2023.
He also owns the Indoor Football League team, Vegas Knight Hawks, in the city, as well as owning multiple soccer teams – most notably English Premier League side Bournemouth.
Per Forbes, he has a $2.5 billion net worth, and his bid has joined forces with Colangelo after they discussed joining forces.
Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley is also vying to buy the NBA franchise in the city
Jerry Colangelo (right) was USA Basketball director for the 2008 Beijing Olympics victory
Colangelo is fronting a Las Vegas Jacks group including former Turner Sports president David Levy, Scott Colangelo, former NBA player Vinny Del Negro and ESPN analyst Jay Williams.
Colangelo was the man behind the United States’ star-studded ‘Redeem Team’ at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after being named director of USA Basketball in 2005.
He started working in the NBA way back in 1966 and became the youngest GM in professional sports with the Phoenix Suns in 1968, the team he went on to own until he sold in 2004.
He also used to own the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and the Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks, as well as helping relocate the original Winnipeg Jets of the NHL to Arizona.
He was most recently involved in the NBA as an executive with the Philadelphia 76ers until 2018, but could now be back involved with the Vegas franchise.
However, despite Foley saying the team would play at the T-Mobile Arena, home of his Golden Knights, ESPN claims even if the bid is successful, a new arena would be built.
