SEATTLE — Perhaps the losing groups in the bidding for an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas won’t pivot their attention to Seattle once the league decides on the winning bid in Sin City.

That was the tone from a report in Sports Business Journal on Friday after the publication reported that the group led by Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos and former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry had decided not to raise their bid price for the Las Vegas franchise and effectively dropped out due to the escalating costs.

In a separate report, SBJ said that the NBA “has believed failed bidders in Las Vegas might set their sights on Seattle as a fallback,” but that all the groups vying for the expansion bid in Las Vegas had hesitations about shifting their attention to Seattle.

The SBJ report bookends a seven-day period when there seemed to be more concerning than hopeful news regarding Seattle and the chances of NBA expansion here. It started last Friday with a story from ESPN that reported the message from the last meeting of the league’s owners was that Seattle was, “no longer a lock.”

Then came NBA Commissioner Adam Silver appearing on the “Pat McAfee Show” before the start of the regular season last Tuesday. Silver mentioned that expansion is still a “few” years away and brought up Mexico City as an option the league wants to explore down the road once it makes decisions on Las Vegas and Seattle.

And finally came Friday’s SBJ report, which noted the Seattle process had stagnated and that the league wants at least $7 billion for the expansion fee if the SuperSonics are to return.

One Roof Sports and Entertainment has been the favored bidder in Seattle from the start, but it’s become obvious through the public posturing that the NBA is desperate for additional bids to join the fray and see if it can drive up the expansion fee price. BlackSun Private Equity has partnered with the Tulalip Tribes on a bid that would have the franchise play games on tribal-owned land near Marysville, but the validity of the bid has been questioned from the start.

SBJ’s report didn’t rule out one of the Las Vegas losing bidders exploring Seattle but noted there was clear hesitation from all the groups.

Silver’s mention of “few years” in his interview this week has raised the question of whether the previously stated goal by the league of having any expansion teams start for the 2028-29 season may be shifting.

There could be multiple reasons.

Whoever wins the bid in Las Vegas will be constructing a new arena that likely won’t be ready until 2029. Moving the start date of any franchise back by a year would allow that team to start play in a new building. It would also avoid potentially staggering the two franchises if the league does give approval to both cities.

Pushing back start dates also lessens the importance of the self-imposed deadline by the league in making final decisions on both markets before the end of the calendar year.

It’s becoming clearer that Las Vegas will happen and that decision on the owner there could come soon. But time is starting to run short for the league to wrap up all this business regarding both markets before the close of 2026.

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