This year’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas could coincide with an expansion approval for the city.
As the final buzzer sounded in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on Saturday, the New York Knicks celebrated their first championship in 53 years in San Antonio, about 1,200 miles from Las Vegas. Now that the league year is complete, NBA owners will convene for their annual meetings in mid-July, meaning a final vote on Las Vegas expansion could be just weeks away.
The NBA’s relationship with Sin City has only grown over the years – in addition to hosting the annual NBA Cup in-season tournament, Las Vegas is also home to NBA Summer League and serves as the training headquarters for the US men’s national team, which is mostly comprised of NBA All-Stars.
Expansion has always been treated as a matter of when, not if, and Las Vegas and Seattle were unanimously approved by owners as preliminary sites in March. This year’s Summer League tournament runs 9-19 July, and owners typically hold meetings during the first week of the event. League insiders have not confirmed a vote will take place but the matter is being discussed as a possibility.
Both cities bring immense value to the bargaining table, but the stakes are high for Las Vegas to secure its fourth and final major pro league. There are currently 12 US metro areas that host all four major sports, and Las Vegas would be the smallest if an NBA team is approved. Sports expansion has been the city’s biggest objective for several years, and recent lulls in performance have made basketball an attractive addition.
Breaking through slumps
By any metric, 2021-24 was the best stretch of performance in Las Vegas’ history. But since the start of 2025, that luck has wavered. Visitation fell 7.5% year-over-year in 2025, per the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and traffic to Reid International Airport fell 6% YoY. So far in 2026, tourism is flat year-to-date, while air traffic is down a further 6% through April.
Top-line gaming revenue has been more positive than those stats, but underlying profitability remains a key concern in Las Vegas. According to the most recent abstract report published this month by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Strip casinos’ net profits fell more than 80% YoY in FY25 to just $154.2 million, from total revenue of $21 billion (-4% YoY).
Sports have become a central piece of the city’s long-term growth and stakeholders are re-emphasising the sector to help combat recent struggles.
The Athletics’ $2 billion MLB stadium on the Strip is moving along nicely, and the team will add 81 regular-season games to the annual calendar from 2028. That is the same year the NBA is also projecting its expansion franchises to debut, according to ESPN, which would bring another 41 home games, discounting the playoffs. Additionally, the city’s annual Formula One race has been extended through 2037, and Las Vegas will host the College Football Playoff, March Madness and Super Bowl sequentially over the next three years.
“Vegas has had its evolution with sports over time,” consultant Brendan Bussmann of B Global Advisors told iGB. “Getting the last piece of the major leagues would fill out the last jewel in the crown…but if it doesn’t happen this time, it’s only a matter of time. I don’t think it hurts the destination. I think Vegas has earned its right as a major city.”
Increasing team valuations
As mentioned, Las Vegas’ metro population of about 2.4 million would be the smallest among US markets with four major sports if NBA expansion is approved. But the city’s hospitality infrastructure makes it an outlier, with a hotel room inventory of over 150,000 per the LVCVA. Multiple projects currently in progress, including the Hard Rock Las Vegas and Bally’s Las Vegas, will add thousands of additional rooms by the time an NBA team would debut in late 2028 or beyond.
The teams that have come to Las Vegas in recent years have been rewarded handsomely. When NFL owners voted to approve the Raiders’ relocation in 2017, the franchise’s value was $2.4 billion, according to Forbes. Today, the Raiders are worth $7.7 billion despite a dismal 39-62 record since relocating.
The Golden Knights’ valuation was $500 million in 2017, and that has since risen to $2.2 billion thanks in part to three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final and a championship in 2023. Even the Athletics, which haven’t debuted yet, have seen a significant bump in valuation from $1.2 billion in 2024 to $2 billion today.
Initial reporting has suggested that the NBA expects a Las Vegas franchise to fetch between $7 billion and $10 billion. That would place it at or near the top of the current market – the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, the league’s two most successful franchises, sold for valuations of $10 billion and $6.1 billion last year, respectively. The Knicks, whose parade down Broadway with the Larry O’Brien Trophy is set for Thursday, are valued at $10.1 billion.
Does the city need the NBA?
There has been no shortage of local support for NBA expansion this year. Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo and Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley have spoken with Silver as well as interested buyers, including NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. Multiple NBA-level arena projects have been proposed in recent years, well before the league officially started the process.
Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst for Las Vegas-based research firm Applied Analysis, said that while the NFL is the unquestioned sports leader in the US right now, an NBA franchise would nonetheless be a huge development for the city.
“The NBA’s reach is significant, I think its popularity is large and frankly, its international reach is also very attractive to a place like Las Vegas that is constantly trying to increase its international footprint,” Aguero told iGB.
Moving forward, one could say that Las Vegas needs NBA expansion at some point if it seeks to truly maximise its sports growth potential. But Aguero argued that the fast-and-furious growth of the last decade shouldn’t be viewed as the norm, and the market has still come remarkably far in a short time even if NBA expansion is not immediate.
“The idea that our growth can be exponential into perpetuity I think is an unfair expectation for the market,” he said. “What Las Vegas has to do is make sure that the same way it has done sports well so far, that it continues to do that.”
