Climate Pledge Arena won't be adding NBA games to its schedule anytime soon.
The NBA Board of Governors convened in New York on Monday, Sept. 14, for a two-day meeting that wraps up Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Expansion into Seattle and Las Vegas is on the agenda, but sources told Sports Business Journal no vote or decision is expected this week.
No vote happened.
The league instead appears headed toward a special meeting in November or early December where domestic expansion would be the sole topic, the Seattle Times reported.
The NBA's self-imposed deadline to decide on expansion is the end of 2026. Approval requires 23 of 30 current owners.
Talk has grown behind the scenes that the league will pick a preferred ownership group for Las Vegas before turning to Seattle, the Seattle Times reported.
Three Las Vegas groups are considered frontrunners: one led by Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, another headed by former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, and a third from the Laurie family, which includes Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie. Sports Business Journal identified the Laurie Group as the current leader.
On the Seattle side, One Roof Sports and Entertainment remains the favorite. Majority owner Samantha Holloway's group owns the Kraken and gained controlling interest in Climate Pledge Arena earlier this year through a public-private partnership with the city.
One Roof added investor Melinda French Gates this spring and retained JPMorgan Chase and Moelis & Co. to structure a potential bid, KOMO News reported.
The rival bid from BlackSun Private Equity, a New York-based firm led by CEO Atonn Muhammad, has faded. BlackSun's proposal to build an arena on Tulalip Tribes land near Marysville, approximately 35 miles north of Seattle, has "diminished the viability of their proposal," the Seattle Times reported.
The plan would require fans to make 41 regular-season trips through corridors where commutes between Seattle and Everett regularly take an hour or more at peak times.
Muhammad told The Athletic his group could assemble investors for a bid of up to $8.1 billion.
Ryan McDonough, managing partner of Sports Ownership Group and a former general manager of the Phoenix Suns, said the league's deliberate pace is by design.
"They don't make mistakes with things like this. They don't rush the process at all," McDonough told the Seattle Times. "If anything, they go slowly and methodically to make sure all their T's are crossed and I's are dotted."
Other league business is also competing for owners' attention. The NBA on Sept. 2 fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million, stripped five first-round draft picks and suspended owner Steve Ballmer for one year over salary-cap circumvention.
Some teams project expansion fees would pay out $500 million to $600 million per existing franchise, totaling $15 billion to $18 billion for two new teams, Hoops Rumors reported citing ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
If the NBA expands, the 2028-29 season is the earliest realistic target for new teams to begin play. The special meeting, if scheduled, could finally end a wait that stretches back to 2008, when the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City.
Seattle sports and recreation week ahead
Sept. 14-15: NBA Board of Governors meeting concludes in New York. No expansion vote expected, but owners will receive a status update on Seattle and Las Vegas bids.
