Big step made toward Seattle NBA expansion bid, per report

Bloomberg has reported a notable update on the frontrunner to land a Seattle Sonics NBA expansion franchise should the league ultimately go forward with adding more teams.

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Seattle Kraken chair Samantha Holloway, who also heads the NHL franchise’s new parent brand One Roof Sports and Entertainment, has hired the investment banks JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Moelis & Co. as financial advisers, Bloomberg reported in an article Wednesday.

Per the article, Holloway “has been preparing to make a bid in recent months” for a potential Seattle NBA expansion franchise, and is “the first publicly known bidder to hire a banker.”

The NBA Board of Governors approved a vote in late March to explore expanding the league by two teams specifically in Seattle and Las Vegas. While the vote didn’t guarantee the league would expand to 32 teams, it is as close as it has been to expansion since the Seattle Sonics were moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.

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The establishment of One Roof Sports and Entertainment came just days before the NBA’s vote in March. The company took over as the majority owner of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena from Oak View Group at the same time.

This is the second report in the last few weeks from Bloomberg providing an update on NBA expansion bids. In late April, Bloomberg reported the NBA has “received signs of interest from multiple investor groups,” though a Las Vegas team was drawing more interest from prospective owners than Seattle early on. That report also mentioned that Holloway was “preparing for a potential bid” on a Seattle franchise.

Wednesday’s Bloomberg report reiterated that “there’s been more interest in Las Vegas” than Seattle so far in terms of interested potential NBA expansion ownership bidders. The important context to Vegas receiving more interest is how much of an advantage Holloway’s bid would have over any competition due to One Roof’s ownership stake in Climate Pledge Arena, which is the only existing arena in the city that can feasibly host an NBA team.

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