NEW YORK (AP) — Stay patient, Seattle. You too, Las Vegas, and every other city awaiting word on whether an NBA franchise could be headed its way.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed expansion again Thursday following a two-day Board of Governors meeting. In short, there is still no timetable for when the league will look to add to its current 30-team format but the league is continuing to study what a 31- or 32-team NBA might look like.
“I wish I could be more conclusive today and say, ‘Here it is, here’s the timeline,’” Silver said. “There are events that are clearly outside of my control. Part of it, as I said, is trying to assess value in a way that’s both fair, even to a potential owner, and fair to the existing owners in terms of what it means to add additional partners, different cities, divide up our current media pie with the 31st or 32nd share.
“And also, we want to make sure we put teams in a position, particularly as we’re setting the price, to be in a position to be competitive, economically successful and just as important for the other teams, successful on the floor.”
Seattle has also long been mentioned as an expansion target. Some players have lobbied for Seattle to return to the NBA, and many — LeBron James among them — have said they strongly support the notion of Las Vegas getting a franchise. Other cities will be considered as well.
Asked specifically about Seattle, Silver said the league does not take those former SuperSonics fans for granted.
“We’re thankful that the interest has remained over all these years,” Silver said. “So, I would just say the fact that we’re not ready to make any public announcements with a specific timeline doesn’t mean we don’t care a lot about those fans and we aren’t focused on the potential for the NBA to return to Seattle.”
TV ratings
NBA ratings have picked up as the season has gone along, and Silver said he’s pleased by how things are going headed into the start of the postseason in a couple weeks.
“I am happy with where we are trending now,” Silver said. “No question, we started slow. We were up against a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, a presidential election that commanded enormous interest, and our ratings were down significantly early on in the season. We’ve gained so much over the last two months. In fact, the ratings for the last two months were the highest in six years, which has enabled us to get to roughly even with last year, regular season, which were our highest ratings in four years.”
Silver said the league is up about 10% on ABC over last year, “up a bit” on ESPN and “down a bit” on Turner. Add it all up, and Silver said it’s about a 2% drop compared to last season.
“But as I said, in this environment, where particularly when you’re largely featured in legacy media and particularly cable, and no question cable subscriptions are going down, that seems like a victory,” Silver said. “I think given the momentum right now, we’re well-poised going into the playoffs.”
Timberwolves sale
Last month, a few days after an arbitration panel ruled that ownership transfer of the Minnesota Timberwolves to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez — who would get the majority stake for $1.5 billion — must continue as originally planned, Silver said the league is waiting to see what happens next.
On Thursday, Silver said the league is still waiting, specifically to see if Wolves owner Glen Taylor will appeal that arbitration decision.
“Glen Taylor does have the right to appeal, and I know he is considering his various options right now, and I believe he’s also talking directly to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez,” Silver said. “We’re on hold there and waiting for decisions among the parties.”
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
