Las Vegas expansion race is down to two groups at up to $11.5 billion, and both leading arena sites are on the north Strip

The Walton-Laurie and Foley-Colangelo groups are expected to pay up to $11.5 billion for the Las Vegas team, with Resorts World and a site across the Strip leading the arena race, as owners chase $18 billion from two expansion fees.

The Las Vegas expansion race may be closer to the finish than it looked earlier this week. Two bid groups are still seriously in the running for the city’s NBA team, and both of the arena sites now leading are on the north end of the Strip, Mick Akers reported Saturday, citing a person with knowledge of the process.

The two groups are the one led by Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie, her husband Bill Laurie and Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban, a minority owner of the Raiders, and the one that includes Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo. Both are expected to pay as much as $11.5 billion.

That is a different count from the one Shams Charania gave on Wednesday night, when he said all three finalists were at $10 billion or more, including the group of Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry. The new reporting puts the Apostolopoulos-Lasry offer at $9 billion to $10 billion, the range Lasry himself gave in October, and below the other two. Lasry said in late October that his group was still a finalist but that the other side’s offer was higher.

NBA Las Vegas expansion bid process sees 2 groups, potential arena sites emergehttps://t.co/s4ixOM3V8x #vegas #nba #nbaexpansion
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) November 14, 2026

Mick Akers on X, Nov. 14, on the two bid groups and the two arena sites still in the Las Vegas race.

Two arena sites on the north Strip

The first site is Resorts World, the six-year-old casino resort that has more than 40 acres it can build on and has openly lobbied to host the team. The second is the land across the Strip from it, next to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, owned by a group that includes Fontainebleau developer Brett Torino and the Siegel Group.

Neither site is tied to one bidder. Both groups are open to both locations, and a site on the south end of the Strip could still come back into play. Whoever wins is expected to spend $2 billion to $3 billion on the building, on top of the franchise fee. Earlier in the process the Walton-Laurie group had been linked with an arena district near Allegiant Stadium, at the south end.

There is also a possible role for Raiders owner Mark Davis, who has stayed out of the bidding. He controls about 25 acres in West Henderson next to the Raiders and Aces headquarters, and the winning group could build the new team’s practice facility and offices there.

The numbers

Item	Latest figure
Las Vegas franchise fee	$10 billion to $11.5 billion
Arena construction	$2 billion to $3 billion more
Apostolopoulos-Lasry bid	$9 billion to $10 billion
Seattle franchise fee	$6 billion to $7 billion
Owners’ target for both teams	At least $18 billion
Payout per current team at $18 billion	About $600 million

Why Seattle pushes the Vegas price up

The 30 current owners want at least $18 billion from the two new teams combined, which would be about $600 million for each club. Seattle is not likely to get them there on its own. A group led by Seattle Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway, which controls Climate Pledge Arena, is the only serious bidder known there, and its price is expected to land between $6 billion and $7 billion. Some owners have already questioned how much a Seattle team is worth.

With only one real buyer in Seattle, the league needs the Las Vegas auction to do most of the work. At $11.5 billion for Las Vegas and $6.5 billion for Seattle, the owners would reach their $18 billion. Charania said this week that Holloway is getting more aggressive in her push to bring the NBA back to Seattle.

What happens next

The league and PJT Partners, the investment bank running the process, are expected to pick the Las Vegas winner before the end of the year, with a Seattle decision soon after. The Board of Governors would then vote on expansion at a December meeting that has not been scheduled yet. That same meeting is likely to include the approval of the $12.5 billion sale of the Lakers from Mark Walter to the group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, who were chasing the Las Vegas team themselves before they struck a deal for the Lakers.

The new teams are planned to start play in the 2028-29 season.